The forecast for 2009: PopJam's Alex Tew thinks startups can be cheaper and faster than ever

Making money is always a challenge for startups, says PopJam founder - and former MillionDollarHomepage mastermind - Alex Tew, but there's still a growing world of opportunity.

PopJam founder Alex Tew. Photograph: Richard Moross/Flickr/Some rights reserved

"It's never been a better time to start an internet business. It shouldn't matter too much whether the wider economy is in a relatively good state or a relatively bad one - all circumstances present unique challenges and opportunities in varying measure.

"The bottom line is that launching an internet start-up is cheaper and faster than ever before, the internet population is continually increasing in both size and savvy, and distribution channels for new ideas are becoming more numerous and powerful each day.

"The two primary challenges I see for web start-ups in 2009 - aside from actually making money - is raising funds and hiring exceptional people. A gloomy economic outlook does not change the best way to do these two things, but merely serves to crystalise what people should have been doing all along.

"At PopJam we raised a small amount of angel funding very rapidly, and we have hired very slowly: exceptional people do not show up on day one."