The biggest barrier to starting a company isn't ideas, funding or experiences. It's excuses.

I am honest enough with myself to admit it. I rarely offer strong opinions, I have a backbone like a pair of bifold doors, and I am terrified of not being approved of.

One of the nice things about being a private company is operating without the intensity of public glare. It's hard to grow a company under a microscope of constant second guessing.

I did interviews with most of the TechCrunch50 experts backstage and there was a common gripe about the companies launching there: Not enough passion, not enough swinging for the fences, not enough trying to change the world... One big exception was CitySourced - a company that excited Kevin Rose precisely because it was trying to build something that doesn't really exist today and would make a huge difference in people's lives. It was the most excited I saw an expert about anything over the two-day event.

You can keep your privacy in the world by keeping your product, not your personality, the star.

This 'oh let's hug it out' without taking any responsibility is exactly the problem. ... We are not silly irrational little girls. We are running a serious business with investments from the biggest VCs in the Valley.

It may be easier than ever to start a product, but building a company is just as hard as its ever been.