The way I see it, there are two big opportunities for startups in hard times. Firstly, some old businesses will be shutting their doors, and every time a busin

The way I see it, there are two big opportunities for startups in hard times. Firstly, some old businesses will be shutting their doors, and every time a business closes down it leaves behind a bunch of unserved customers, who presumably could be served at a profit by a more efficient business. Secondly, people will be more likely than they are in boom times to break out of their existing habits and move to a lower-cost competitor. If you can find a way of providing people with things they need at a lower cost than the existing players, you can grow really fast. Startups which exist to provide people with new and innovative ways to poke each other, on the other hand, might not do so well. Oh, and one additional idea to throw out there while I think of it: a site aimed at highly-skilled but newly unemployed workers, with a combination of job-finding tools and commiseration.