Startups are rapidly changing systems. If you use an annual review cycle, you aren't getting feedback at the same pace that you need to adapt and change the business.

Facebook is not an unstoppable juggernaut. There are a lot of other things people can do on the web.

I also like to use a sensational headline. Many people read blogs in aggregators, which generally show only the headline. So you have to give people a reason to click through. Blogs need to be real and personal. Reading it should be like hanging out with you. I play music for my readers. I show them videos I like. I tell them what I did over the weekend. And I tell them what is happening in the technology, Internet, and VC markets.

You simply can't be tentative in a startup. You have to go for it at every chance you get. And if the leader of the organization is anxious, his or her fear pervades the organization. Everything comes from the top in a company. So if you are starting a company or building one, face your fears and move past them. It's critically important to your company.

Not only do you have to put yourself in harms way in service of your country, you have to leave your families at home. It is a great sacrifice.

Markets come and go. Good business don't.

Foursquare's adoption of a game dynamic when it launched is a particularly clever implementation of a social hook.