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One of the jokes in my little universe is that “every time I hear the word ‘marketing’ I throw up a little in my mouth.” I’ve been joking about this long enough that it’s become conventional wisdom that I hate marketing. Yet, if you look at many of our successful investments, they are extraordinarily good at marketing and some people suggest we (Foundry Group, me) are also good at marketing.
Thirty minutes ago, Chris Moody – a long time friend and COO of Gnip – sent me an extremely thoughtful email titled “Food For Thought”. I read it, thought it was 100% correct, and asked if I could reblog it verbatim both as (a) an explanation of how I actually should / do think about marketing and (b) an example of how I learn through direct feedback.
Chris – thanks for taking the time to write this. You nailed

22-20sBrit-rock pack 22-20s were founded in 2002. Lineup comprises Martin Trimble (vocals/guitar), Glen Bartup (bass), James Irving (drums), and Dan Hare (guitar). (Keyboardist Charly Coombes records with 22-20s on occasion). In 2003, the band issued their 6-track debut, and at mid-decade they released their freshman

It’s that time of year again, open enrollment period. This is the annual window where you can sign up for, or adjust, your participation in a variety of employee benefits that range from traditional health insurance to one of my favorites–flexible spending accounts (“FSAs”).
Alas, a recent Harris Interactive/Aflac study showed that 77 percent of people admitted that they made mistakes when signing up for their benefits packages in past years, with 42 percent saying those mistakes cost them money.
What kind of mistakes are we talking about?
One of the most common errors actually was forgetting to sign up for FSAs.
Given today’s economic environment, you no doubt want to save as much money as you can. That makes FSAs, in particular, a benefit that you really want to take the time to understand. Why? FSAs enable you to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified health care

As mayhem breaks out on stock markets; as Eurozone banks freeze up; and as the global financial system approaches a frightening ‘danger zone,’ the champions of the globalised ‘free market’ and of the Euro are in search of a scapegoat.
Instead of accepting that it is the broken banking system; the de-regulated financial Eurozone, and the deflationary monetarist policies of the Maastricht Treaty that are the roots of the crisis, the Troika (the IMF/EU/ECB) want to identify a convenient whipping boy.
Instead of going after the real culprits — un-regulated bankers that lent recklessly, confident they would always be bailed out by taxpayers — the approach of the Troika is to scapegoat Greece. The implication is that the whole fabric of the Euro, and with it the global economy, is torn apart because one poor country, Greece, will not enforce ever-deeper austerity on her

This week, the Eagles finally get to host their home opener. Aside from Mike Vick’s concussion (which may not even be an issue by Sunday), the team has managed to survive the preseason and the first two weeks relatively unscathed, particularly when you look at this week’s opponents: the Giants.
One of my good friends is a Giants fan, and he and I have been having an exchange on Facebook this week about the sorry state of the Giants roster. The pre-season was not kind to the Giants’ D, and last week, Eli Manning lost both Domenik Hixon and Mario Manningham from his receiver core. As I observed to my friend:
At this rate, the Giants will be out of players by their bye week.
How’s the practice squad looking?
Have they thought about sacrificing a goat?
Their secondary is particularly in

I have no special insight into the Troy Davis case. I only know what has been repeated far and wide — that there was no physical evidence tying Davis to the murder scene; that the murder weapon was never found; that Davis was convicted based more or less exclusively on the eyewitness testimony of nine people; that seven of those people have recanted, several saying they were pressured or coerced into fingering Davis by the police; that one of the two remaining eyewitnesses who has not recanted was said to have bragged about having himself committed the crime. What I do know is that we live in a sick time, a time when to be poor, downtrodden or otherwise marginalized is to be worthy of indifference, if not scorn and contempt. A time when a new political movement has emerged that revels in death, as witnessed by the sickening displays at the last two Republican

In over 9% unemployment and graduations after graduations with more students clueless about what they’re going to do next, people in my generation have started giving up. We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on educations that were supposed to give us job security and help us jump-start the adulthood we feared and worked relentlessly for the majority of our young lives. Instead, many of us recent graduates have pushed the pause button and gotten comfortable not really moving forward, taking jobs like waitressing or at a bookstore, and living at home with the folks until the economy takes a turn. A recent New York Times article gave us the name “Generation Limbo,”– a group of well-educated, broke 20-somethings who have lost hope in the American dream, and instead of fighting for it, have decided to be victims.
As the article cites, almost 15% of grads who earned their degrees between 2006-2010 are still looking for full-time

Governor Rick Perry of Texas has gone to great lengths to make sure voters know that the divine light of the Holy Bible shines on his bid to be the GOP presidential nominee — a prayer meeting for 30,000 in Texas; a proclamation for days of prayer to end the drought that, unfortunately, continues to devastate Texas.
This is a candidate who wants voters to believe he is working God’s will on earth. So when Perry talks about abolishing the EPA, he’s on God’s side, right? Wrong, of course — no matter what Perry claims. But lots of people are confused about how anti-EPA rhetoric got so linked to Christian ethics. How did the Biblical “dominion over the earth” become an excuse for abuse of our environment? How did Dominion Theology get mixed up with messing things up?
And what happened to the Biblical mandate — the same one found in all the world’s holy books — that we must cherish and nurture our planet, as stewards of this earth?
One of the most important qualities of political and religious extremism — as demonstrated time and again in the 20th century — is that it is

Not two pages into Jonathan Wells’ new book, The Myth of Junk DNA, the reader comes across the bold statement that speciation by natural selection has never been observed, and a few pages later that Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, “found Darwin’s theory unpersuasive, and Darwinists ignored his theory for half a century.”
How odd.
In fact, Mendel was not at all unpersuaded by Darwin’s arguments for the fact of evolution (“descent with modification”) or his theory of natural selection to explain it. As geneticist Daniel J. Fairbanks wrote in his book Relics of Eden, he not only read Origin of Species, he was aware of the significance that his own studies on garden peas meant for the evolutionary theory. What Mendel did find unpersuasive was Darwin’s later enthusiasm for pangenesis as a mode of

My mother was a warrior. No, not someone who carried a sword and went into hostilities to harm, but rather a warrior for good, and for the well-being of people with intellectual disabilities worldwide.
My mother’s battlefield was the Special Olympics organization she founded in 1968. Her weapons of choice were compassion, an enormous heart, a sharp intellect and a competitive spirit. She used her full arsenal of talents to fight for those who were not viewed by society to be capable, to be fully human, to be deserving of the opportunity to play, to compete, and to contribute to their community worldwide.
This Saturday, September 24, over 100 countries will celebrate the second annual Eunice Kennedy Shriver (EKS)

There are three fundamental issues that will be at the heart of the political debate from now until the election. They are:
The role and size of government
Fairness, both in terms of economic outcomes and tax policy
The effect of supply-side, trickle down, deregulatory economics
All three are, of course, already in constant motion — the American Jobs Act, the president’s new deficit plan, the current class warfare dust up, and the conservative economic playbook — including that of the Republican presidential candidates — each one invokes some or all of these core issues, which have, in one way or another, been at the heart of the American political economy since Jefferson first argued with Hamilton.
Faithful visitors to my blog know that these fundamental questions are one reason why it exists. Getting them right has lasting implications for the prosperity of the broad middle class, the mobility of the poor, the productivity of our infrastructure, the security of the elderly, and the opportunities of the young.
These thoughts came back to me when I re-stumbled on this trenchant New York Times op-ed by Stan Greenberg. I’ve been meaning to write about this piece — “Why Voters Tune Out Democrats” — ever since it came out at the end of

There is no question that a hot dog is a great game day snack, but as college football fans become more food savvy, university athletic departments are giving their stadium menus a gourmet makeover.
Throughout the past five years, schools across the country have been adding locally-sourced and high-end delicacies to their concessions. However, as professional teams continue raise the bar on their stadium food many of them are taking care to appease to even the most casual fans by innovating the traditional dishes familiar to them.
The irony is that even with the new selections — from sushi to maple donuts — the fans have a fondness for the traditional staples. According to a recent survey the National Association of Collegiate Concessionaires found that soda, hot dogs, popcorn, nachos, and pretzels still rule the popularity hierarchy.
However, if you’ve tired of the classics and are yearning for a new game-day treat, here are ten stadiums where the food is worth checking out.
- Matt McCue, The Daily Meal
More from The Daily Meal:
Football Tailgate Menu
Origins of Iconic Sports Foods
Beer and Cheese: A Surprisingly Happy Marriage
10 Best Athlete-Owned Restaurants
10 Athlete Epicures
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With Touchdown Jesus as their witness, the Fighting Irish faithful eat well all fall. ND has added dishes such as prime rib, grilled shrimp sandwiches, and BBQ nachos to its

I sat in the theater biting my tongue. In the newly released film, “I Don’t Know How She Does It” about the challenges of a working mother, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Kate Reddy describes her female, child-phobic junior associate, Momo, as a “robot” and went on (and on) throughout the movie pointing out how ‘cold’ yet dedicated and hardworking she is.
Why is it that the modern mom can love children and her career but the childless woman can only love her career? And are clich characters like Momo — played by actor Olivia Munn — reflective of a common antagonism overburdened moms have for those without children? In America today, has feminism morphed into mommyism? More importantly, are we all losing something because of it?
I became an aunt a decade ago, and from the moment I heard that my sister-in-law was expecting, I experienced the deepest, unconditional love for a child-not-my-own. Now, as Auntie Melanie to many more, there is nothing I would not do for my nephew and nieces. While not a mother myself due to circumstance — not choice — I have, and have always had, strong maternal instincts for

If you’ve been following the life, case and this week’s execution of Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis, you are acutely reminded of how justice is not always just. The timing and similarities of Mr. Davis’s case and execution are uncanny and shockingly all too familiar.
20 years ago this Sunday, I lost a friend to capital punishment.
We started off as a pen-pals, became unlikely friends and, decades later, our relationship remains an ever-present influence in my life.
Before the days of email, I would spend evenings avoiding homework and instead writing him letters on my father’s IBM Selectric

It’s hard to pigeonhole a director like Marc Forster, who has directed films as varied as Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace, Stranger than Fiction and The Kite Runner.
So maybe Forster should get a pass for Machine Gun Preacher, a generically insulting action movie with a hokey script and manipulative story-telling.
Maybe.
Apparently based on a true story, Machine Gun Preacher has a title that would fit one of those ultra-gory grindhouse movies that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are so fond of. In fact, it’s the tale of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), who gets out of prison in the late 1990s. A biker and drug addict, he comes home to a wife (Michelle Monaghan) who has kicked drugs, given up stripping and found

“Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.”
– Earl Nightingale
Once upon a time, a traveler from a far and distant town approached a wise man that was just leaving the city into which the traveler was entering. The traveler stopped the wise man and said, “Can you tell me about the city from whence you have just come? What is the quality and character of the citizens here?”
The wise man replied, “First stranger, tell me: What were the people like in the last town you visited?”
The traveler replied, “Oh, they were a cold bunch of people with no kind words for anyone. It was not a happy town. They were very judgmental, and the people were mean-spirited and

Perhaps no Parisian landmark is as emblematic of the City of Light as La Tour Eiffel, most particularly in the late evening when it sparkles for ten minutes on the hour every hour. The tradition was begun in 1999, when the tower played host to Paris’ Millennium Celebration. Seen during its nightly light show, it takes on a new personality and proves that it’s a clich sight for a reason.
When I’m in Paris, I generally avoid the Eiffel Tower because it’s crowded to the point of being

On Wednesday, September 21, the House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to send Rep. Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) to the House Floor. Now the rest of the House of Representatives will get a chance to debate this monstrosity.
The Legal Workforce Act, if it becomes law, will mandate universal use of a massive new workplace regulation called E-Verify, an electronic employment verification system designed to weed out undocumented

Once upon a time in America, the nation was defined and reflected in a culture dominated by Anglo-Saxon assumptions and popular media that reflected and re-enforced that perspective. Once upon a time, Hispanics and other minorities were kept mostly on the margins, geographically contained and easily identified and categorized by their skin color, food, music and language. The process of acculturation was a one-way street and the purported goal of every immigrant was to gradually discard their ethnic heritage and disappear, or melt, into the great cultural cauldron of America.
That America, if it ever really existed, is gone, a historical mirage air brushed by a hazy mist of

How is technology going to change the classroom? That was the number one question being discussed at the New York Times Schools for Tomorrow Conference held yesterday, September 22 in the Times Center.
Four hundred invited attendees including distinguished policy makers, entrepreneurs, and educators came up with a variety of answers.
Dr. Lawrence H.Summers, former President of Harvard, gave a brilliant keynote address in which he talked about how technology will change education.
Summers made three main

Inside Higher Ed released the results of a recent survey of admissions counselors Wednesday, and the collected data may drastically change the public’s perception of what colleges and universities are looking for in prospective students. The survey’s results prove that institutions of higher learning are prioritizing one aspect of applications above all else: money.
The source reports that a top goal for admissions directors is acquiring more students who can pay more. It was even noted that 10 percent of four-year colleges report that the full-pay students they are admitting have lower grades and test scores than do other admitted applicants.
Those who submitted survey responses were allowed to do so anonymously in order to maintain a level of accuracy and authenticity in their answers. Inside Higher Ed also reported that the total number of participants reached as high as 462 top admissions officials from nonprofit colleges and universities nationwide.
In no way is it morally acceptable for individuals to gain entrance into schools based on financial credentials over academic success in 2011–a decade and generation that is supposed to be a more modern and progressive

Mitt Romney is emerging as the grown-up in the GOP primary process, which is too bad. He will not win the nomination. He would make the strongest candidate for the Republicans in 2012 but he cannot win the primaries. The primary process does not require sanity and moderation in the GOP

On Thursday, the world’s dominant search engine, Google, cosponsored a debate for: a party in search of a leader to take on a currently very vulnerable incumbent president; nine candidates in search of a message that will resonate with potential Republican voters and carry them to victory; and, last but not least, Americans in search of a leader who can give us a vision of hope and confidence and optimism to succeed in this 21st century.
So how’re we doing? To borrow from candidate Herman Cain, let’s have nine key takeaways to give us a sense of where things stand.
If the economy doesn’t improve and a significant event doesn’t occur (and thus his approval numbers remain low), President Obama can’t win reelection in a two-way race no matter who the Republican nominee is. The electability argument in the Republican primary is meaningless at this point and under these circumstances. It will only matter if the president’s election prospects substantially improve or a real third-party candidate surfaces next year. This nomination is worth having by any of the Republican candidates, because this is nearly a complete referendum on the president at this

I am about to say something that many might consider blasphemous — I don’t think couples should live together.
Now, before you cast me as some pro-marriage, uber-conservative who has been reading one too many National Marriage Project (NMP) studies, be assured I am not. At the risk of sounding somewhat Orwellian, let me clarify: Living together is OK for some couples and not for others.
Don’t want to be parents? If there are no kids to deal with, planned or still at home, please — move in and out with whomever you want as often as you want.
It’s also OK for same-sex couples; until other states wise up and follow the lead of Vermont and Massachusetts and allow same-sex marriages, we haven’t given gays and lesbians much of a choice, have we?
It works for people like me, too. As a divorced middle-aged woman who is about to be an empty-nester, shacking up — with someone respected and accepted as part of the family — works.
Finally, cohabiting is fine if you’ve put a ring on it — an engagement ring, that is — or have a wedding date in mind or have been talking marriage (to each other,