One refrain I have started hearing from some entreprenuers is that they have now gone a long time without a paycheck or angel funding -- let alone venture funding, and they need to pay the rent so they will soon have to put their ventures on hold.

It will come as no surprise that the continuing crisis in the finance sector has put an end to the little IPO activity that seemed to be cropping up just a few weeks ago.   According to an article in the September 23 edition of VentureWire entitled "IPO Flow Perked Up Until Wall Street Crisis Hit" (you can sign up for VentureWire here):

 Until last week, some market observers said they were seeing more companies readying to register initial public offerings in the U.S. While no one believed deals were about to pour into the market, even a whiff of future activity seemed promising.

Then came the filing for bankruptcy protection by Lehman Brothers Holdings, the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America and the government rescue of American International Group Inc. The U.S. government's announcement late in the week that it was working on a plan to bail out the financial system is at such an early stage that it's impossible to know what effect it may have on IPOs

Well, I am not sure it is impossible to know what effect it will have on IPOs.  As long as there is a continuing crisis in the world of exits (IPO and M&A), there will be a drag on venture investment.  As long as there is a continuing crisis in the stock markets, there will be a drag on angel investing.  These factors will also create a drag on entreprenurial activity. 

A lot of our future and our kid's future is tied up with entrerpenurial activity and technology based entreprenurial activity, so this situation can't be good.  There are many good reasons for a bailout of the financial sector of which its effect on entreprenurial activity is a small one but an important one.