Last year, I ended my Outlook 2008 with the following sentences: “As we head into 2008 my best advice to entrepreneurs is to be flexible and creative. This is going to be a very interesting and probably volatile year.”  Talk about understatement.  Well, as 2008 draws to a close, I can safely say that one thing is certain: if you scare the stuffing out of consumers and businesses, they will stop spending money.  That’s pretty much where the certainty appears to end. As we head into 2009, uncertainty is the order of the day. That being said, there are some data points out there which I will try to connect to provide some guideposts for the coming year.

President-elect Barak Obama is one of the most entrepreneurial presidential candidates in American history.  He has shown himself to be an optimistic self-starter who can create and sell a vision to others.  His campaign and transition activities demonstrate his exceptional communication and organizational skills.  As a country that is based upon entrepreneurial behavior, it is not surprising to see that Americans elected an entrepreneur to lead them through a difficult economic crisis.  Professional investors back entrepreneurs who have the characteristics that Mr. Obama is showing.  The question now is whether this most entrepreneurial of Presidents will support those most like him.