Richard Irving, a partner at venture capital firm Pond Venture Partners, considers the impact of economic slowdowns, both in terms of VC investment and the prospects for employment.

Recently, we finally had confirmation of what most of us have known for a while: the US economy is in a downturn.
The credit crisis is clearly the cause, and we have not hit bottom yet, but how will this slowdown affect those of us involved in technology?
Let's start with venture capital. While I have heard from some venture capitalists that they intend to sit on the sidelines for a while, this is unlikely to result in a major funding slowdown unless the environment deteriorates significantly further.

