OK, I'm going to take an awful risk here. I have knocked on wood and rubbed my lucky VC's rabbit foot and that will hopefully ward off any jinxing effects of this post:

I think we're on the bottom. Maybe even headed up a teensy bit. This quarter we've been seeing more interesting deals and more motion in the private investing market. It's a little hard to tell yet if there really are more fresh companies out there, or they are just being passed around between venture firms at a faster pace. It certainly feels like there's a developing bias toward action from our side of the table; more companies pitching are able to (honestly) say they have one or more funds doing diligence, committed if there's a lead, etc. Still fragile, still vulnerable to outside economic shocks, but spring might be coming again.
2:44:51 PM    

If you're collecting them, check out VentureBlog by some of the guys over at August Capital. Good stuff. (We're alongside them in one deal, Postini.)
2:38:53 PM