As we’ve said before, there’s no better today than today to start working on a great new start-up idea.  Nevertheless, entrepreneurs are naturally curious about what the environment for start-ups will be like this year.

As Zen Buddhism has long preached, the only certainty in life is change.  So, with the caveat that “Black swan” events, like the 2008 financial crisis, Covid-19 will always surprise us, here’s the situation so far in 2026:

• Venture capital investments are beginning to gather steam again, after a long period of retrenchment, the Federal Reserve has begun cutting interest rates again (.25 basis points in February), and while this has been modest so far, it may signal a new era of “easier money” is upon us.

• Series A Rounds (meaning the first rounds of Venture Capital financing) have reached a new high of over $50,000,000.

• The emphasis on AI-related innovation has continued in the early days of 2026, with AI startups enjoying about a 50% valuation premium over all other sectors.  Other sectors, like some software, are seeing declines.  Analysts are referring to this as a “K-shaped” growth curve.

As a start-up and intellectual property attorney, I’m often asked, “when is the best time to launch a new business idea.”

My answer is almost always, “now.”  You have to be in it to win it in, and there’s no better day to get started than today.

Good work, as quick as possible, is what drives humanity.  And the laws of the patent office, just like the law of the jungle, incentivize that fundamental truth.  If you don’t take the initiative, someone else will.  So the patent office rewards those who strike while the iron’s hot.  The United States changed to a “First-to-File” country in 2012, meaning, the first inventor to file a patent application on their concept gets the patent, not the first person to come up with the idea.  Later filers get sued for patent infringement, if they go ahead with the product unprotected.  So, my answer is always, run, don’t walk to the Patent Office.