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17-minute interview about credit unions, money, and the economic crisis

October 20 17 Comments latest by Mike

Last week, I recorded an interview about credit unions, money, and the economic crisis with George Hofheimer at the Filene Research Institute, which studies consumer finance and credit unions. George and I met when I spoke to credit union executives a couple of years ago.

Here’s the interview in streaming MP3 form, plus a transcript below.

RSS readers: Can’t see the MP3? Click here to listen to the interview.

George Hofheimer: Hello, this is George Hofheimer, Chief Research Officer at the Filene Research Institute and welcome to our podcast series entitled ‘Ideas Grow Here’. Today, we will be having a conversation with Ramit Sethi, Founder of the Personal advice site, iwillteachyoutoberich.com. He is also the author of an upcoming book by the same name. Ramit, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate will furnish a young adult’s perspective on what role credit unions can play for today’s stressed out consumers. We hope you enjoy today’s show.

Today, I want to welcome our guest. His name is Ramit Sethi and he is the founder of the website iwillteachyoutoberich.com, and Ramit, I was wondering if you could tell our audience, today, a little bit about yourself, your background, and a little bit about your business. It’s kind of unique.

Ramit Sethi: Sure, I am 26-years-old. I started, ‘I Will Teach You to Be Rich’ when I was a student at Stanford and I actually started it for reasons before that because when I was applying to colleges, I had to get a bunch of scholarships to be able to afford it. The first scholarship I got was $2,000. I turned around and invested that in the stock market and I lost half my money. So when I got to Stanford I decided that I probably should learn about money. I then started teaching it to my friends and, of course, they never attended my classes, they said it sounded great, but they never came.

So finally I started a blog and that blog iwillteachyoutoberich.com really took off; the blog posts about 180,000 readers per month and it’s been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, on TV, etcetera. What I try to do with this site is talk about personal finance and personal entrepreneurship as if you and I are sitting around the table just chatting about money. So it’s not the same old browbeating about stopping your spending on lattes because frankly, that hasn’t worked. It’s more punchy points about things that we care about and how to try and achieve those goals, whether it’s negotiating with your bank, negotiating with your credit union, saving up for a vacation, or even getting a second job or doing some kind of entrepreneurial thing on the site.

George Hofheimer: So how can you teach me to be rich?

Ramit Sethi: Well I think the first thing is that rich is not just about money. A lot of people say, “Well, do you have a million dollars?” and the question is, “Well doesn’t it depend, if you have a million dollars, is that rich? What about if you live in Manhattan, or what about if you are 26 versus 65?” Rich is not just about money, so it’s really important to understand what rich means to you. And for many people it means being able to take an international trip once-a-year or being able to help your parents out with their retirement. The first thing you do is understand what it means to you.

The second thing to set some modest goals. And I think most people have pretty modest dreams that are actually very achievable. If you do want to go to China next June, no problem. I can help you plan for that and help you save up the money to do that. If you want to invest your money so that at a certain point in the future you are earning more from your investments than from your savings I can help you do that. The key is, it’s not about being the fanciest, smartest person in the room and knowing P/E Ratios. The hardest part is really just getting started.

George Hofheimer: Well that’s good news for me, because I am never the smartest person in the room, but, kind of, considering the advice that you are giving consumers and some of the ideas that you are throwing out there what could credit unions be doing more effectively?

Ramit Sethi: Well, I think it’s a great time to reach out to consumers. I read a report yesterday that said 8 out of 10 Americans are stressed out about their personal financing. I found that astonishing and I think there are a couple things that credit unions can be doing and I know this has been well debated among your organization. I have read your blog and some of your reports CUNA, CUES, etcetera; but I think first is reassurance.

Right now, as a typical consumer, I hear nothing but bad news and I think the financial companies like banks have really fallen short in reassuring customers. The second thing is guidance. How to save, how do you preserve your money. What should you be doing? They should be saying “Hey! Here’s what’s going on. Here’s why we’re going to be around.” Instead, they are just leaving a vacuum of information.

I think credit unions really do well at this on the community level because they have got such great and deep roots with the communities. They’re going out there and helping to not only educate their own base but also giving their base the tools to spread the word and I can talk about that a little bit later too.

(00:04:52)

George Hofheimer: So delving into that a little bit further, and I am a reader of your blog. A lot of the advice that you do give to consumers is really common sensical stuff. So why do you think people, number one, are so stressed out about it. Number two, why do they have such a hard time dealing with their finances?

Ramit Sethi: Well, why do you think people can’t lose weight? There are no secrets to losing weight just as there are no secrets to getting rich. If you want to lose weight, you eat less and exercise more. It’s very simple, but instead we get caught up in these ideas of, “Well I better eat carbs before I go to sleep, and then I should eat fiber right after I go running, and I should buy this pedometer.” You know what, if you do those two big things, exercise more and eat less, chances are you are going to lose weight, and the same is true with personal finance.

I think it’s very sensible, but there’s a lot of blame. We love to assign blame to everybody. There’s a lot of blame to go around as to why we are not succeeding as consumers at managing our money.

First of all, we are not trained. We didn’t learn this stuff in school. Most of my friends, even those who graduated and made great amounts of money, still don’t know how to manage their money.

We have bad examples. Our parents taught us about money. Chances are they didn’t know what they were doing. We see what’s on TV; you see these shows where people are changing their stock picks everyday, that’s crazy. Wall Street, they have a profit motive and our friends, they are not actually encouraging us to have a life of frugality; instead we try to see who can one up each other. Finally though, I think most importantly it comes back to us.

Personal finance is shrouded in a sense of mystery and I mentioned that 8 out of 10 people are stressed about their personal financing. How many of those people do you think have ever read one book on personal finance? There can be all the tools in the world, but if we are stepping up to learn them and the rest of it is disappointment.

George Hofheimer: So it’s kind of getting to the old-fashioned notion of thrift. Is that going to be hip again? Do you truly think we are entering a new era of how people consider their finances and know that the era we are leaving is one where asset prices go up? You can trade stocks on a daily basis and you will become rich easily. Is thrift an old-fashioned term that is going to be hip again?

Ramit Sethi: I think in some ways, yes. When I add things on my blog I write things like how to negotiate like an Indian. I have taught people how to call up their banks, their credit card companies, or any financial institution or and negotiate fees. I literally write the script of words they can use to negotiate specifically and people love that. So that is something that is really, really effective. I don’t think savings are sexy yet. It’s not quite so attractive to say, “How do you get that amazing quote.”

“I calmly put aside $25-a-week in an automatic withdrawal and after six months, I was able to afford it.” That doesn’t sound great, but when people asked, “How did you buy that new car?” I said, “I used the service called Fighting Chance and I was able to get about $5,000 off the asking price of the car, $2,000 under invoice because I had some information that other people didn’t, people’s ears will perk up.

So I think the take-away there is that thrift can be hip, it can be cool, if the vision is big enough. Saving $5 here and there is not a big vision, but being able to say, “Hey, I saved $50,000 on my mortgage because I knew something that you didn’t,” that is really, really alluring.

George Hofheimer: Yes, absolutely. Now, we operate in the credit union space and anytime people from the same industry get together, there is a lot of navel-gazing and conventional wisdom. And the conventional wisdom in credit unions, one of them is that we offer a better deal for the consumer and we are the best-kept secret. As I have become accustomed to your website, I notice that you talk about the types of accounts that you have and I notice that you don’t have a credit union account, I’m curious as to why?

Ramit Sethi: Yes. George, I am on thin ice because I spoke at CUES, the Credit Union Executive Society last year in Hawaii and I got in big trouble because I didn’t have a Credit Union Account. So, I am going to go into this knowing full well that I am treading water here. This is what I would say. You are right, I don’t have a Credit Union Account. I think credit unions are fundamentally about change and I think it’s very similar to a political issue we have got going on right now.

Because most Americans have bank accounts, not credit union accounts, credit unions require consumers to make a change. And to be frank, I am lazy and so are most people. We are cognitive misers; we have enough going on in our life and we don’t want to worry or even pay attention to our financing. Even me, and I have read about personal finances every day.

(00:09:52)

To be a little less glib, I have evaluated a lot of credit union accounts and bank accounts and I guess the question is, is there enough activation energy for me to change to a credit union or even for me to go to a website and open up an account. I think, “Why would I?” And, I think, fundamentally, it’s certainly not because credit unions are member-owned. To be completely honest, none of my friends care about that or even know about that. “Do I get extra services?” I paid, I think, $50 for a Costco account because I could clearly measure my ROI. I am not so sure that it’s easy to do that with a credit union. Even though I love the services and when I go to buy a house, I will absolutely go and see if there are competitive rates there. I have heard about credit unions from a trusted source.

I want to give you an example. You read my blog and know that I talk about my ING Savings Account a great deal. I love it and the reason is two-part. One is that they have a really beautiful simple service that pays me a decent rate and they do not send me a bunch of stuff in the mail. They just leave me alone and I can do what I need to do. The second thing and this is the key, they have given me the tools to spread the word to other people and I have referred thousands of customers to ING.

I think that goes back to a huge part of the community outreach that credit unions do but can do better. It is like you have members that are passionate about credit unions. In fact, I would take a guess that the average credit union member is much more of an evangelist than say a Wells Fargo Bank Account holder. But, as a credit union member, are you giving your members the tools to spread the word?

I would argue, George, that referral should be a strategic metric that’s held up at the executive level every month. How many referrals did we get and programs should be put into place to help members refer other people. I think that is the way that young people hear about financial services. And when I am having conversations with friends about different tools, credit unions just aren’t in those conversations.

George Hofheimer: Interesting. And actually those thoughts that you just had were confirmed by a study that we did. We went into credit union member’s homes several years ago and asked them why they chose the credit union. One of the questions we asked them is “what are you a member of?”, and remember that they knew that they were part of a study examining why they joined a credit union, and the majority of folks did not mention that they were members of credit unions. So it’s the whole notion of having a tangible benefit and something to talk about, I think is a pretty compelling argument as well?

Ramit Sethi: That’s very interesting.

George Hofheimer: And so not to be tone-deaf to what’s going on outside the four walls of everyone’s lives and that’s the economy. The general consensus is that we are entering a pretty deep recession and it’s going to impact consumers tremendously. What can credit unions do, in your opinion, to help consumers through this recessionary time?

Ramit Sethi: That’s a good question. That’s a tough one. I am sure there are much smarter people in the credit union field that are thinking about this, but I will give it a shot as a consumer. I think the first thing is reach out to consumers. We are looking for leaders and we are looking for leadership to be honest with us. Just last night, after watching a presidential debate, I was furious and I wrote up a post on my blog saying, “Here is what Obama and McCain didn’t tell you about your money. They didn’t tell you x, y, z because it’s political suicide to do so.”

We are looking for leadership and it’s not coming from Washington as to what’s going on with the economy. Are we really expecting things to get better by the end of the year? I don’t think so, but nobody is going to tell you that. You can take a top-down and bottom-up approach. Top-down, you have got CUNA, you have got CUES, you have got other national organizations evangelizing credit union as a whole. Then from the bottom-up, at the community level you reach out to the local community and evangelize credit union, again, as change. It’s different than the same old banks you have had.

Locally, credit unions have resources that banks can’t beat. I have seen credit unions come and speak at high schools and universities that banks are too busy minting money to go to. This is a tactical piece of advice. When you go out to the community I would strongly recommend you attend events where people are forced to attend. That sounds somewhat counterintuitive. We always like to think if people care they will come. But I bet anybody listening to this knows that if you are hosting an event where you talk about credit unions or financial planning, your attendance rate is going to dismal.

(00:14:49)

So I prefer to go to places where people are forced to attend. If you are going to go speak at a classroom, make sure the professor require students to attend. If you are going to speak at a company, make sure the manager forces his or her direct reports to attend. And when you are there speaking to people, give them tools right there on the spot to sign up. Coming back to what credit unions can do in this economy, I think it’s time to think of revolution, and not evolution.

I have spoken to a lot of credit unions over the last couple of years and I still hear conversations about which paperweight should we offer to get people to sign up for our service or should we increase our yield rate 1%. You know that doesn’t fly anymore, increasing it 1% doesn’t make me pay attention to the computer screen and go sign up for an account.

We are talking about huge different ways of getting people to change. Offer us a system that will take us through our 20s and 30s. Don’t just say, “The services are available if you want it;” say, “We are going to make you a deal. We will give you better rates. We are going to work with you in a detailed basis and build a system for finances that will come through in your 20s and 30s.”

And finally, finally, finally and most importantly use your existing base of members to spread the word. If you don’t do that you just can’t compete with the deep pockets of banks but I will tell you this, having 10 people come to me and say, “Ramit, I got this amazing deal at this credit union, you should check it out,” that is more influential than any amount of advertising I could see on TV.

George Hofheimer: Well that’s great, Ramit. I think all of these are great points and coming from a generation where credit unions are struggling to effectively serve in the young adult market. I think the advice is sages and hopefully folks will take action in these tough times to help consumers out.

So once again, Ramit Sethi from iwillteachyoutoberich.com. If you haven’t checked out that website, I think it’s a great resource and a very keen consumer perspective on financial services and what you can do to help better serve today’s consumers. So Ramit, really, I appreciate your help today and your thoughts. So have a great day.

Ramit Sethi: Thank you.

Total Duration: 17 Minutes.



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The Money Diaries: The Slightly Lovedrunk, Bar Hopping New Yorker

October 16 65 Comments latest by Dmitri

Today is another post in the Money Diaries series, which is based off New York Magazine’s Sex Diaries. We’ve collected stories from real people about their spending habits over seven days, anonymized them, and posted them here.

stethoscope.jpg

Today’s post is by a 28-year old woman who’s keeping an eye on her account balance while living up the nightlife in New York City.

* * *

DAY ONE

10:15 a.m: Decide to forgo breakfast this morning as part of a weight- and finance-maintenance plan. Instead I select a cup of company-subsidized Lipton hot tea from the kitchen.
1 p.m: Intended to hit the street cart for lunch today, but my boss’ boss comes over to my cube and wants to go to a deli downstairs. I have a review coming up, and I suppose I need all the brown-nosing points I can get. I get a buffet assortment of three chicken salads, green beans, and other random greens. Grand total: $7.75. I sigh.
3:30: Work BFF comes over to my cube and says she wants to go get some froyo. I can’t resist the lure of cold, whipped ice-sugar, so I shell out $2.75 for a small double-dutch chocolate in a cup.
7 p.m: Date at a Midtown lounge with a former lawyer.
7:45 p.m: Get so tired of trying to sell myself as a competent, beautiful, and Fun (with a capital F!) woman that I order a second Ketel One and tonic to his one rum and Coke.
8 p.m: Decide he looks a little like Erik Estrada and doesn’t seem terribly focused, even though he’s a nice guy. He picks up the tab, which is also nice.
8:05 p.m: Start missing my ex-boyfriend. A lot.
8:20 p.m: Hug my date goodbye and thank him.
8:30 p.m: Wander down 55th Street depressed as hell. Decide there is only one cure for my heartache and enter a karaoke bar perched on the top floor of a Japanese restaurant.
9:45 p.m: Two $5 Kirin Lights and four $1.50 song cards later, I notice I’m getting teary as the woman sitting beside me sings Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” It’s definitely time to go home.
10 p.m: I convince myself I’m too sad and buzzed to take the subway, so I blow $10.50 on a cab ride.
10:15 p.m: A bit irritated with myself for spending so pointlessly this evening, I try and make up the difference by eating leftover kung pao chicken takeout from my fridge instead of ordering dinner.

DAY TWO

9:45 a.m: WebMD.com has convinced me that I have strep throat, so I make a pit stop at my doctor’s office on the way in to work. Copay: $20. He writes me two prescriptions: One for an antibiotic and one for Allegra, even though I don’t have allergies.
11:45 a.m: The drugstore pharmacist tells me it’ll be $10 for the antibiotics and $35 for the Allegra. I decline the Allegra, because I think I have a few tablets of Claritin in my desk drawer. Pharmacist seems annoyed at my frugality.
1:35 p.m: Nothing will stop me from going to the gyro cart today. I pick up a $4 lamb-stuffed pita and a 75-cent Diet Coke and consider lunch a financial success.
2:40 p.m: I am terrified of logging in to my bank’s website and viewing my checking-account balance, but I do anyway. Because I live in New York City and because I pay half of my monthly salary to live alone in a studio apartment, I really shouldn’t spend more than $63.85 until next month.
2:46 p.m: I think hard. I SHOULD have a $250 check for a freelance article I wrote in March coming in the mail soon. But until it comes through, I need to seriously cut back.
4:59 p.m:
Like any good, cliche New Yorker, I see a therapist every week, and today I had my first appointment with a psychiatrist about, ahem, chemically stabilizing my moods. Copay: $20.
6:45 p.m: I grab a slice before going out. I do a double-take as I pay: My pizza place raised its prices from $2.75 for a slice of one-topping pizza to $3. This makes me infinitely sad for some reason.
7:30 p.m: A coworker of mine won a free keg of beer from a shoddy Irish pub. I somehow get away with drinking for several hours and paying only a dollar for a tip.
12:30 a.m: As I stumble back to my apartment, a cute former coworker of mine texts me that he wishes he were single…because of me. It’s a damn shame, because I happen to know for a fact that this guy is fiscally responsible, even though he doesn’t make a ton of money.

DAY THREE

10:30 a.m: Oh, holy God, I am so hung over that it feels like I’ve eaten a ball of yarn. I come up with 71 cents for a whole-wheat bagel with butter on it, hoping that it will somehow soak up the excess alcohol in my stomach. Ow.
1 p.m: Lunch at a Midtown diner with a friend. We switch off on paying the check each time we eat together, so today my grilled cheese was free. Nice.
3:28 p.m: Somehow I’ve gotten a reputation at work for being the woman who always has quarters for the chocolate-covered-almond machine. I give one to my boss and one to the features editor. I’m trying to make nice with the editor so he’ll give me some writing assignments. Is it wrong to try and buy respect? And with quarters, at that?
4 p.m: I pick up a prescription at Duane Reade, and because my doc gave me a $35 promotional coupon for the medication, it’s totally free. That has never happened to me in my entire life.
7:15 p.m: I grab a $3 slice before yet another date that I’m dreading.
9 p.m: Date at an Upper East Side lounge with a guy who works in finance. He tells me he works for a private equity fund and explains it to me. I still don’t totally understand what that is, but it’s nice to know he’s good with numbers. He also picks up the check, which is very nice.
1:15 a.m: My ex-boyfriend texts me and says he misses me. We text each other until 2.

DAY FOUR

10:30 a.m: I need coffee. No free tea today – only java will do. I spend $3.69 on a small black coffee and yogurt/granola parfait at a deli downstairs from my office.
2 p.m: Half-day Friday! I decide to go to lunch with my boss and my work BFF. I shell out $10 for a delicious pork curry over ramen noodles.
5:45 p.m:
I am running on barely any sleep (had a hard time falling asleep last night after trading texts with the ex), so I grab two Red Bulls from the deli. Those things are expensive. Grand total: $5.
7:30 p.m:
I’m running around my apartment in a Red Bull-fueled frenzy getting ready for dinner at a steakhouse with said ex-boyfriend. We haven’t spoken or seen each other in two weeks – a break that was my idea. I certainly don’t want to walk all the way to the subway in three-and-a-half-inch heels, so I blow a cool $20 on a cab way down to the Meatpacking District.
10 p.m: Steaks were had, a wine bottle was uncorked, after-dinner drinks were consumed and a relationship was rekindled. My no-longer-ex-boyfriend picks up the three-digit check. I feel spoiled, grateful, and incredulous at the same time.
12 p.m: After dinner, boyfriend and I grab a couple of beers at a Greenwich Village haunt. I figure that I should pay for at least something tonight, so I spend $13 on our tab, which consisted of a Pilsner Urquell and a Bud Light.
12:30 p.m: Boyfriend pays for the cab home.

DAY FIVE

9:15 a.m: Time to hit the Jersey shore for a bit of beach time with three of my pals. Price for a PATH train ride to Jersey: $1.75
10:15 a.m: I’m so insanely tired that I buy a Diet Coke. I pick up a Poland Spring as an afterthought, as it’s probably not good to subsist solely on Diet Coke, Red Bull, and booze. Total: $2.50
3 p.m: Ahhhh, sun. We’re all hungry, so I grab a hot dog and a frozen Coke for $6.
5:15 p.m: We pile into the car and hit a seafood restaurant that looks out onto the water. I have a delicious meal of oysters, a cod sandwich, and chips. And a pina colada and a Corona, of course. We split the check four ways. My portion is $29.88.
7 p.m: We each pitch in $5 for gas money.
9:30 p.m: Hit up an Irish pub near Herald Square. I drink two Harp drafts and half a Bud Light, which costs me $20.
10:30 p.m: Boyfriend shows up and whisks me back uptown to drop my things off, and then to his ‘hood in Brooklyn. He pays for the cab rides.
12:30 a.m: We hit a taco joint for tacos, nachos, and one margarita each. I contribute $10 to the cause.
2 a.m: Cab back to boyfriend’s apartment. I throw in $5.
2:30 a.m: Boyfriend mentions offhand that the accountant he recommended for me this past tax season didn’t get my payment, even though he said they invoiced me. I get really flustered, because I’m normally so good at paying all of my bills on time. Boyfriend sweetly offers to pay for it, and I immediately say no. You can’t put a price on pride, y’all.

DAY SIX

1 p.m: Free concert at McCarren Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! I contribute $5 for the cab ride there and realize I have zero cash left. I hold our place in line while boyfriend runs out for giant iced lattes and turkey sandwiches, which he pays for.
3 p.m: We’re standing in the rain with no umbrellas, still waiting for doors to open. I guess nothing really comes free.
4 p.m: Show is awesome, and the free people-watching is even better.
5:30 p.m: Boyfriend grabs us burgers, a bag of chips, and two Bud Lights. I’m embarrassed that I have no cash.
7:15 p.m: Boyfriend and I stop by a fancy cheese store for crackers, pate, and brie for tonight.
8:30 p.m:
I’m cleaning the apartment for my two friends who are coming later, while the boyfriend offers to run to the grocery store for fruit, chips, and delicious French onion dip. He picks up the tab for it all, and I continue to feel bad that he’s paying for so much.

DAY SEVEN

10 a.m: I hit my bank’s ATM on my way to work and take out $100. I have $387.28 left in my checking account. That’s not as bad as I thought, but it has to last me another 17 days, and that includes two upcoming therapy sessions. I’m really starting to need those two freelance checks I’m owed. I really, really do not want to dip into my savings account for emergency cash.
1:45 p.m: I have GOT to eat something green and fresh after inhaling junk for the past few days, so I go with three of my coworkers to a deli around the corner and hit up the salad bar. Total comes to $6.
2:30: I recently got an ominous-sounding letter from my insurance provider saying that a procedure from my last vision checkup isn’t covered. With visions of $500 invoices dancing in my head, I call the doctor’s office to ask what the letter means. The nice receptionist tells me that the doctor chose to just write that procedure off rather than charging me for it. I fall all over myself thanking her.
2:58 p.m: I see that my gym has deducted $21.40 from my checking account for monthly dues. Perhaps I should consider actually going to the gym in order to get my money’s worth.
7:30 p.m: Slice of pizza, $3.
8:30 p.m: Boyfriend invites me over. We work separately, in silence, on different things: he on his taxes and me on my freelance assignment. We both complete our tasks.
10:30 p.m: Against our better Monday-night judgment, we grab a couple of drinks. My round of delicious Victory Hop Wallop draft beer costs $14. I look at him. Victory, indeed.

In sum: $347.11 spent, $71 of which was on booze; 8 unnecessary cab rides; 7 instances of alcoholic behavior; 6 dates; 2 financial freakouts; 1 CHiPs reference; 0 freelance checks received via mail.

Update: The anonymous poster, “Jane,” leaves a comment below.

* * *

To be featured anonymously in a future Money Diary, click here.



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Behind the Curtain: How Silicon Valley companies are handling the downturn

October 14 12 Comments latest by Simon’s Mess » Blog Archive » Shared Items - 18 November 2008

Silicon Valley is buzzing with recent activity from several notable investors, who’ve told their portfolio companies to batten down the hatches for an impending recession that will be extremely challenging. For example, Sequoia, one of the premiere venture capital firms out here, held an emergency meeting with its portfolio CEOs last week. Below is the extraordinary presentation they made. And here are notes from the presentation.

As always, I Will Teach You To Be Rich readers frown on predictions (because they’re almost always wrong). But, at the very least, here’s a look behind the veil at how startups are behaving to an economic downturn — along with some fascinating data.


Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs - Get more Business Plans

Can’t see the slideshow? Click here.

Or read more links from my personal entrepreneurship section.



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I'm Ramit Sethi.

I'm a recent graduate of Stanford, where I studied technology and psychology. Now I'm the co-founder & VP of Marketing for PBwiki, a wiki startup in Silicon Valley.

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