The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal

Survival lessons from past tech downturns

By Christopher Mims

10 Dec 2022 · 6 min read

Editor's Note

Mass lay-offs and plummeting share prices in the tech industry look bleak, but veterans of the last two crashes explain to The WSJ that this downturn could be the moment to build the next big thing.

People who have been in the tech industry long enough to remember its previous major downturns have a message for those facing the current one: Decisions made now will determine who survives—and lay the groundwork for the next tech boom.

Surviving this tech winter, and building for the next boom, requires strategies that are often the opposite of those popular only a year ago. It also requires a change in mindset. Tech leaders generally are told to keep their eyes fixed on the horizon. But to navigate the current economic downturn, looking back at what worked and didn’t will be essential.

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