Customers still expect immediate answers and no excuses.
In many ways, it creates a less-forgiving environment. With venture-capital and IPO money tight, companies that don't achieve positive cash flow will be peddled to bargain hunters for pennies on the dollar of the original investments. Speed to market with products, or the time from idea to IPO, will go from being the all-consuming focus of the Internet economy to being tempered by other business values. It's a subtle difference, but a real one for both startups and established companies. The focus now is on hitting profit milestones, slowing down hiring, and keeping a tighter watch even on routine expenses such as requiring two-week booking on travel or renting a studio apartment for visitors to the New York home office instead of paying lavish hotel bills.