We may or may not be in a tech bubble today. Some say “hell yes we are” and others are still saying “what are you talking about?!” but one thing is for sure… things will change. They always do. In the case of raising money and building successful companies it’s no different. Over the next 12-18 months we’re going to see tons of companies close up shop like MyNines, fanvibe and Skribit but we’ll also see people getting smart, real smart.

Two months ago a few others in the startup space and I were sharing a beer (well, I was having something gluten free) and we began discussing what happens when money and runway starts to run out. One option is to close up shop but the other, more reasonable and intelligent option is to get together and build something amazing. Right now we’ve got tons of super talented people spread out among every startup industry on the planet from fashion to finance and ecommerce to social. As times get tough, the best thing that can and will happen is that people join forces.

We’re already seeing this type of thing (not necessarily because of money issues, yet) among startups. Just today, Health Month and Contagion Health created the new Habit Labs and only a couple of weeks ago, LocalResponse bought Philo and while it’s not exactly a startup, recently Meltwater purchased IceRocket (which is still amusing to me).

I won’t be surprised if this trend continues upwards. Got $1MM? Buy that other group that raised $250k started by a few smart guys, bring your dev teams together to kick ass and build an awesome product and company. That’ll get you through this bubble, er, thin film of soapy money/tech/design filled with air.