A lot has been said and written about the so called economic crisis. I’ve gone through the leaked emails and presentations from VC funds, the panicked blogosphere posts and the news on TV. I still believe a few special companies will be able to get over the whole thing.

I say special because unfortunately companies with the right mindset are not the norm. Not a lot of companies and leaders realize how while spending will go down in general, it will not affect products and companies that create real value for their customers. Now I know that nailing that (the whole “build something awesome” thing) is the tricky part, but (at least a few) entrepreneurs make a living out of creating value for people.

Insterestingly enough I’ve read a comment somewhere (maybe Venturebeat) today where someone actually recommended firing developers and hiring marketers to explore growing existing market shares instead of exploring new things. I laughed then (and I smile now as I write this) about how stupid that was.

Get in the right frame of mind: build something special, something people crave. Figure out what people love about your product today, and make it better. Make it stand out from the flood of products we hear about every day. Who knows, maybe you’ll 1-up everyone else who’s trying to “extend their runway” right now.

The right reading material: this article by Ted Rheingold of Dogster, or maybe this one about Tim O’Reilly. Maybe then you’ll stop making virtual lighters for the iPhone and make something that will have me, and others want to put money in your pockets.

I love blank slates. I’ve been meaning to start a new blog for a while now. I’ve always felt somewhat trapped in the Webreakstuff weblog because we have an audience that expects us to talk about products and strategy and our own experiences with our clients – and those are not the only things I want to think, read and write about right now. So I decided to take the next step and start anew.

This is not a blog about development, or design, or strategy. In fact, it’s not about anything in particular. I know I’m going to explore all of these topics, but I’m not going to commit to any of them at this point. I do, however, commit to writing more often than I have in the last few months.

I’ll go through many of the things that have inspired me to start over on my talk at Shift 08 in Lisbon next week. If you’re around, make sure you drop by and say hi. If not, everything will be recorded and processed in the blogosphere anyway. This is a connected world we’re living in, and this is my new record of exploring it.