In October 2008, in the early days of the last economic collapse, Sequoia Capital invited founders of technology companies to a frank meeting outlining the new global reality.

Silicon Valley had long since shaken off the doldrums of the dot-com bubble, but one of the industry’s most respected venture capital firms was now counseling entrepreneurs to again “batten down the hatches” — to cut costs, to focus on profit, to “spend every dollar as if it were your last” because “it is going to be a rough ride.”

The presentation was called “R.I.P. Good Times,” and it ended with a challenge meant to inspire founders as well as to scare them: “Get real or go home.”

As it happened, Sequoia’s dire warnings never quite came to pass; the tech industry’s good times merely paused for the recession.