Finding Old Friends 2021

Have you found the time, during this crazy year of pandemic, to actually reconnect with old friends?  I have and it's been amazing. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pEY-GPsru_E 

And I mean OLD FRIENDS I knew when I was 7 years old type old friends. 

Christmas Letter -- December 24

This is the Shutdown Christmas for sure in terms of things coming to a standstill for us.  We're not government workers but my husband's dad is quite ill, so we've been putting Christmas and Chanukah on hold, in case we need to fly to Florida to see him again (been there 3 times already this year.) He and his wife are in assisted living in Orlando, which we are finding is NOT the happiest place on Earth for us this season.

We didn't buy a tree to decorate as we usually would, in case we had to be away suddenly.  We only burned half the candles in the menorah at the beginning of the month, because we had to leave to see him four days into Chanukah.  I didn't get a chance to wrap presents and barely opened up our boxes marked "Christmas Decorations" set aside in the new living room by the movers when we moved here in October.

It's been wait, watch, hope and pray for the best, but be ready to go at a moment's notice.

This morning I decided to do some Christmas things just to make me feel happier, no matter what we do the rest of the week.  I unpacked our wooden Nativity figurines and set them up -- three wise men, animals, a shepherd, an angel, parents and a baby.  So glad to see them again. I wrapped some presents. I set up Christmas Toy Story Woody in his chair on the breakfast table. (He used to say, "I've got a reindeer in my boot! but his string doesn't work anymore.) Still he has a dandy red velvet cowboy suit.

There's one feature of our new house we didn't quite like, the fact that the front door opens right into the stairway and banister, but this morning, I realized it's PERFECT for hanging the stockings with care. I loved seeing them hung up in a new house in a perfect place. It's all the way you look at things, isn't it?  A little thing can make all the difference.

You might be stuck in crazy holiday travel traffic, on land or air.  You might be overwhelmed with family and friends (maybe too many, maybe too few.)  You may be far from home. I know this is a holiday where many newly divorced or separated people are feeling sad. Try to enjoy the good parts if you can.  Hope you can have yourself a merry little Christmas, and underline the word little there -- just enjoy the little things.

Christmas Letter -- December 23

Very sorry there are government employees working and NOT being paid over this holiday week.  Ridiculous.  Hoping people are particularly kind to them. Be Merry & Bright -- it makes a difference.

Catching up with friends traveling all over the country today by phone and text.  So glad we are not going anywhere.  Home, safe, sound, snug. It's been a busy year and I've been working a lot, so it's like a vacation to just visit my own house.  Our new fireplace is a big treat.

Christmas Letter -- December 19

I've been wanting to blog lately -- surprise!  After pulling back for so many years, I just feel the need.  Social media is such a mess at this point, I thought the other morning, I'd like to blog like we did in the beginning (circa 2000-2005), before it was awash with advertising and marketing and now, prostituted by foreign countries for their own aims.

I thought about calling it a Christmas Letter -- just a few days of blogging, maybe 14 days -- as I was driving to work from Acton, through Concord, then Lexington, to Cambridge these cold mornings of sensational sunrises with bare branches of birch and oak, like ink drawings. Passing ponds, slightly frozen at at the edges.

Not all branches are bare. A few hearty green pine trees sing out "We are Christmas Trees too!"  You can celebrate the conifers without decking them with bright lights. The car is like a cold horse, shuttering and a bit uneven before it gets into its pace. A blessed baby pink sky with terrifying black ice below, to keep you on your toes on roads traveled by Redcoats and the real original Patriots.

So please listen to Joni Mitchell's amazing song River with me. (Go Google it, because, weirdly, I can't actually quote the lyrics without creating legal liability for myself.) 

A mournful version of Jingle Bells opens her song, a musician's lament about being stuck playing and performing at Christmas when all you want to be is ... home.  As a Canadian, and how beautifully Canadian her lyrics are, she is missing the chilly, bracingly cold Christmas where you put on your skates and hang out with friends on frozen ponds.  It's quiet and private and no marketing geniuses are invited.

She talks of wanting to just skate away on a river of ice.  Even the way she says the word "Skate" is so Canadian. And the other lyrics, "We're coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees" suggest the great north woods.

Melancholy and full of memories, the song is certainly a different journey from LA to her memories of home, compared to the classic "Over the River and Through the Woods" lyrics of old.

And her slightly minor version of the standard "Jingle Bells" together with her operatic heights when she muses about skating and skating and skating far away, are bittersweet. And as people who love to skate know, it does feel like flying when you really move fast, and she takes us upward as her lovely voice flies into an angelic high range.

Christmas isn't always happy, is it?  And she's keen on transcending the too happy warm, green palm tree Christmas climate of LA for the sobering quiet of frozen ponds in quiet woods.

A Uterus is a Feature not a Bug! You have to read it, it's the best.

Sweet End of Summer But We Do Fall Oh So Well!

Really, a hot night on Sept 21 but let's get it together with the fall. Nobody does fall like us New Englanders. Wish we all had Pilgrim uniforms we had to wear after Sept 22. Those big bibs and buckle shoes. Way cool. And the stupid rhyming "leaf peepers" -- silly catch phrase but what a tumble of leaves we'll have soon. Red plastic rakes. Cider and piles of pumpkins. Bring it on.

Did you know we do just about anything NOT to turn the heat on. We wear wool hats and socks to bed to put off the inevitable. Some years we don't turn the heat on until November! I love that kind of year. And then it's a flannel extravaganza! Flannel everything -- bed sheets, nightgowns, art projects, slippers. Flannel and felt -- in orange and red and brown and yellow. Hello! We love fall! Hell, we even love Autumn here.

Entrepreneurs, Get Ready to Adore The Tour de France 

Reposting from July 2014

Day 1: Tour de France: Victory to Marcel Kittel 2014

If you're an entrepreneur, I'm going to make you a giant fan of the bike race known as the Tour de France (#TdF) this summer, because nothing comes as close to life in a startup as this crazy month-long race of short- and long-term challenges.  Nothing can teach you how to crash better, how to get up, dust yourself off and get back in the race fast, how to build and work with a team and most importantly nothing can teach you how to endure and just keep going.

I've been an entrepreneur for many years and I've been a CEO, a CMO and a founder.  I've been in startups that were successful with exits that included a sale, a stock swap, a merger, as well as in startups that flopped and died a sad death. But until I spent the summer of 2011 sitting in a fifth-floor walk-up apartment in Grenoble as the breeze blew the cold mountain air through the big French windows, waving the gauzy white curtains like race flags, watching the race day after day on a small French black and white TV with no remote, as well as going to stand in the rain for several stages to watch the race live, did I finally get it.  The race includes every up and down any start-up team member can ever face.  It's perfect that we took  the word "entrepreneur" from the French to describe the insane enterprise of startups.

Watch the first few days of the Tour de France as the terrain is mostly flat and reasonable and the riders are fresh and strong -- doesn't it look like fun? Anyone can do it! Then watch the second week as they hit the mountains and the fair-weather players start to drop, peel off, crash or have to give up due to injury.  And then, by the third week, you'll be sitting there watching how each team works together or doesn't -- and you'll understand in a deep visceral way what a team is, why they matter, how they work (or don't) and why they can do more together as a team, than one person ever can do.

And if you're lucky enough to be sitting in a bar in a quiet dusty town in the south of France for the last week or in Lyon or Limoges or LeMans or Lourdes, you'll be be blessed to watch it in the hot afternoon with some Frenchman or woman who will get a little drunk with you and a lot more philosophical and tell you what the race is all about.  "Il s'agit de ... " they will start to explain to you and then pour you more Pastis or Pouilly Fuissé and you don't have to be a student of existentialism or Sartre to get it -- the bike race and the race you're running are both about enduring.

Enduring and keeping on the course.  It's about the amazing grit and strategy and luck (or lack of) and how you face it.  It's about the pleasure and the pain (equal parts) of staying in the race. It's about the trade-offs each rider has to make every day of a long, long race. They might fall back one day and rest in the slipstream of their team's unsung heroes the next day, so they can live to fight another day.  They might take crazy chances when a downhill speed can put them way ahead today in an early stage, gaining them 30 seconds, which later turns into a sheer 2 seconds they need to win the whole month-long race and stand on the highest perch at the final ceremony in Paris on the last day. They know how to face danger, and when to avoid it. They learn to be courageous, decisive and act quickly. You need to pick up every skill they have, if you want to thrive as an entrepreneur.

In 2011, I had the amazing luck to spend most of the month of July in France and watch the Tour de France up close with my then 16-year-old son Jackson who incidentally was already an experienced bike mechanic and bike lover.  As any parent knows, just to have your teen want to go on any vacation anywhere with you is miracle enough, and you treasure every precious minute of the trip together knowing they will probably won't travel with you as their first choice ever again.

I'd learned French in grammar school all through college and lived there on and off, so when our friends in Grenoble asked us if we wanted to visit in July 2011 and watch the race with them, I was all in.  Jackson was just learning French in school, but he was already an accomplished biker and mountain climber.  Since Grenoble was in the foothills of the Alps and many of the most important days for the Tour de France would take place in that town, we were over there as fast as we could scrape together enough Euros. Grenoble is also the home of Petzl, another of Jackson's favorite companies, as they make world-class mountain climbing and rescue equipment, so he was the proverbial kid in a candy shop.  He climbed, he biked and we watched the race day in and day out with our friends.

One more entrepreneurial lesson -- it's never over until it's over.  One of the most important days for the Tour de France 2011 took place in Grenoble, the penultimate day of the race where the game-changing "time trials" happened and we walked over to watch them.  Cadel Evans delivered that day, go read about it. Of course my kid didn't want to get a photo with the famous bike racer, he wanted to pose next to the pit crew cars that were filled with mechanics, especially the Mavic Wheels yellow sedan. The day after the time trials, as the teams went to Paris, we took the TGV train to Paris too, to follow them and watch the last event, as the conquering heroes finally reached the capital to ride around the Arc de Triomphe.

Have I said enough to make you love the race yet?  Okay, I give up.  Take a shortcut.  Go to France and fall in love with some French "ami ou amie" who adores their national race and can teach you how to love it too.  You'll drink their wine, fall in love with the peleton and Pau and Paris, and if you're lucky, dance late into the night to old Piaf records, as she sings, "Non, je ne regrette rien," because whatever race you're running, entrepreneurs and riders who stay the course rarely regret it.

Minuteman Bikeway Mini-Vacation (but we call it the Bike Path.)

There is so much to see along the Minuteman Bikeway which runs between the Alewife T through Arlington, past Lexington then all the way into Bedford, please plan a trip soon. Start by looking at the Bikeway map here.

A view from the Minuteman Bikeway

No bike?  If you love to walk, you might try grabbing a cab or 62/76 bus to Lexington Center and walking back towards Alewife.  

Need to Rent a Bike?  Check out the Bike Stop in Arlington Center (literally has a back door on the Bikeway) or Bedford’s Bikeway Source which is at the very end of the bikepath.

Have a Bike and a Car?  You might want to drive to Lexington Center and park behind CVS or Starbucks (1465 Massachusetts Ave) since that parking lot borders right on the Bikeway. The parking meters require quarters and mostly give you two hours from M-Sat. No need to pay for parking at all on Sundays. 

Take Your Bike on the T and Buses:  All you need to know about that here.  MBTA and Bikes. 

Shorter mini-vacation:  If you only have an hour or two and mostly want to ride your bike, start at Alewife, pedal to Arlington Center where the Bikeway crosses Mass Ave, grab a coffee (or pastry or lunch) at Kickstand Café.  If you still need lunch as you come into Arlington Heights (see the Trader Joes and Starbucks signs and stairway), try D’Agostino’s Deli where the Special Sub of the day is around $5.00 and the locals who run it are terrific.  Then ride on to Lexington and swing by the Ride Studio Café for your afternoon tea or coffee. 

Longer mini-vacation:  Leave Alewife and head for the Arlington Lexington line where you’ll find an authentic French cheese and creperie store called MA France.  The owners François and Cecile Attard are from the Perigord region and everything about them and the store is very French. Since they are across the street from Berman’s Liquors you might want to do a bread cheese and wine picnic at the place off the bikepath right near their shop. Bring a blanket if you want to just sunbathe on the grass. (The photo in this post is very close to their shop, on the Bikeway.)

Ride into Lexington Center and past the stores (CVS, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts) a few blocks towards the Minuteman Statue and then you'll see Buckman’s Tavern (painted yellow on the left) where our forefathers and mothers were drinking and hanging out when they heard the British were coming. Well, that's not really what they heard.  Take the tour and you’ll learn what all insiders know, the cry was “the Regulars are coming!” since the British soldiers were part of the “Regular Army” in those days. 

Walk your bike back through the center of Lexington to the RideStudio Café where serious cyclists meet serious caffeine. More details on this amazing place at the link above. 

Keep Going or Go Back: At Lexington, you can ride further away from Boston towards Bedford (adds about an hour to your trip if you're a fast rider). The path is in deep woods, green and quiet for the most part and ends at the great Bikeway Source bike store.  Or, if you need to get back to Alewife, head the other way and make a stop at Wilson Farms when you get to Pleasant Street. This is a garden and gourmet grocer where you can get a range of prepared foods, whole fruits and vegetables and enjoy seasonal events like hayrides in fall and Farm Tours in spring and summer.  

Bring the Kids: If your kids are riding with you and you're fine with them eating sweets, don't miss  Rancatore’s (corner of Mass Ave and Waltham St.) in Lexington Center is not to be beat.  A great lunch place (but closed Sundays) is Via Lago opposite the Lexington Library. Their cold case has pasta salads and other treats, and they make sandwiches and hot lunch to order. 

One last thing: We know it's officially called the "Bikeway" but most of us locals call it the Bike Path. So if you get lost and ask for the "bike path" or nobody will know what you're saying. 

Links:

Minuteman Bikeway  http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/Introduction.html

Bikeway Map: http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/Brochure.html

Bikeway Source http://www.bikewaysource.com

Bike Stop http://abikestop.com/bicycle-rentals

Ride Studio Café http://ridestudiocafe.com

Via Lago http://vialagocatering.com

Rancatores http://rancs.com/locations/rancs-lexington/ 

Wilson Farms http://www.wilsonfarm.com

D’Agostinos http://www.dagostinos-deli.com

MA France http://www.mafrancegourmet.com/Default.aspx

Bermans http://www.bermansfinewines.com

Kickstand Café https://www.facebook.com/thekickstandcafe

Historic Lexington: http://www.lexingtonhistory.org/historic-sites.html

Brad Feld's recent post on Feld Thoughts about "Don't Fake the Language" is so true.  In any business, slinging the slang around always makes you sound silly.  Some of the smartest people I've met (including Brad) can explain things in very simple language.  They don't need to go all buzzwordy on you as he notes in his post.

Today, there are hundreds of words that people throw around in the context of their startups. Many, like traction, are completely meaningless. If you need a dose of some of the language, just watch a few episodes of Silicon Valley.

I’ve noticed something recently. For founders outside Silicon Valley, and even plenty within Silicon Valley, the language seems forced. Fake. Awkward. Uncomfortable. Words are used incorrectly. They are strung together in meaningless sentences. They are used to obscure reality or try to avoid the meat of a question. 

Minuteman Bikeway Mini-Vacation

There is so much to see along the Minuteman Bikeway which runs between the Alewife T through Arlington, past Lexington then all the way into Bedford, please plan a trip soon. Start by looking at the Bikeway map here.

A view from the Minuteman Bikeway

No bike?  If you love to walk, you might try grabbing a cab or 62/76 bus to Lexington Center and walking back towards Alewife. 

Need to Rent a Bike?  Check out the Bike Stop in Arlington Center (literally has a back door on the Bikeway) or Bedford’s Bikeway Source which is at the very end of the bikepath.

Have a Bike and a Car?  You might want to drive to Lexington Center and park behind CVS or Starbucks (1465 Massachusetts Ave) since that parking lot borders right on the Bikeway. The parking meters require quarters and mostly give you two hours from M-Sat. No need to pay for parking at all on Sundays. 

Take Your Bike on the T and Buses:  All you need to know about that here.  MBTA and Bikes. 

Shorter mini-vacation:  If you only have an hour or two and mostly want to ride your bike, start at Alewife, pedal to Arlington Center where the Bikeway crosses Mass Ave, grab a coffee (or pastry or lunch) at Kickstand Café.  If you still need lunch as you come into Arlington Heights (see the Trader Joes and Starbucks signs and stairway), try D’Agostino’s Deli where the Special Sub of the day is around $6.00 and the locals who run it are terrific.  Then ride on to Lexington and swing by the Ride Studio Café for your afternoon tea or coffee.

Longer mini-vacation:  Leave Alewife and head for the Arlington Lexington line where you’ll find an authentic French cheese and creperie store called MA France.  The owners François and Cecile Attard are from the Perigord region and everything about them and the store is very French. Since they are across the street from Berman’s Liquors you might want to do a bread cheese and wine picnic at the place off the bikepath right near their shop. Bring a blanket if you want to just sunbathe on the grass. (The photo in this post is very close to their shop, on the Bikeway.)

Ride into Lexington Center and past the stores (CVS, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts) a few blocks towards the Minuteman Statue and then you'll see Buckman’s Tavern (painted yellow on the left) where our forefathers and mothers were drinking and hanging out when they heard the British were coming. Well, that's not really what they heard.  Take the tour and you’ll learn what all insiders know, the cry was “the Regulars are coming!” since the British soldiers were part of the “Regular Army” in those days.

Walk your bike back through the center of Lexington to the RideStudio Café where serious cyclists meet serious caffeine. More details on this amazing place at the link above. 

Keep Going or Go Back: At Lexington, you can ride further away from Boston towards Bedford (adds about an hour to your trip if you're a fast rider). The path is in deep woods, green and quiet for the most part and ends at the great Bikeway Source bike store.  Or, if you need to get back to Alewife, head the other way and make a stop at Wilson Farms when you get to Pleasant Street. This is a garden and gourmet grocer where you can get a range of prepared foods, whole fruits and vegetables and enjoy seasonal events like hayrides in fall and Farm Tours in spring and summer. 

Bring the Kids: If your kids are riding with you and you're fine with them eating sweets, don’t miss Candy Castle in Lexington near the Minuteman Statue where you can get gelato as well.  As for ice cream, Rancatore’s (corner of Mass Ave and Waltham St.) in Lexington Center is not to be beat.  A great lunch place (but closed Sundays) is Via Lago next to Candy Castle. Their cold case has pasta salads and other treats, and they make sandwiches and hot lunch to order.

One last thing: We know it's officially called the "Bikeway" but most of us locals call it the Bike Path. So if you get lost and ask where it is, say "bike path" or nobody will know what you're saying. 

Links:

Minuteman Bikeway  http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/Introduction.html

Bikeway Map: http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/Brochure.html

Bikeway Source http://www.bikewaysource.com

Bike Stop http://abikestop.com/bicycle-rentals

Ride Studio Café http://ridestudiocafe.com

Via Lago http://vialagocatering.com

Rancatores http://rancs.com/locations/rancs-lexington/

Candy Castle https://local.yahoo.com/info-10232169-candy-castle-lexington

Wilson Farms http://www.wilsonfarm.com

D’Agostinos http://www.dagostinos-deli.com

MA France http://www.mafrancegourmet.com/Default.aspx

Bermans http://www.bermansfinewines.com

Kickstand Café https://www.facebook.com/thekickstandcafe

Historic Lexington: http://www.lexingtonhistory.org/historic-sites.html

Girls' Guide to Conferences

First BlogHER conference 2004

If you're attending the #WebSummit in Dublin or thinking of heading to Paris for #LeWeb, I've got some advice for women at conferences. There are things that can make it way more fun.

(BTW, here's a photo of the BlogHER Conference where you will likely NOT get into too much trouble. Just wanted to say congrats to them, as they were bought for $30-$40M this week!  Way to go!)

1. Don't drink! I know you'll get lots of chances to drink free booze, lots of guys wanting to buy you drinks, lots of meals where beer or wine make sense, but I'm telling you, it's a very good idea NOT to drink. The person who doesn't drink gets to hear a lot of drunken people tell a lot of secrets they shouldn't be telling, as well as the obvious fact that it keeps you from going back to the hotel with some idiot you should not go to the hotel with. Also, it means you'll be fresh in the morning. Certainly hold a drink in your hand or have a glass in front of your plate which is full of wine or beer, so you LOOK like you're drinking, but believe me, you'll be glad you didn't drink.

2. Don't sleep with anyone. Bring a stuffed animal and sleep with him.

3. Set up a co-ed team of friends to hang with at the conference. Conferences have gotten so big now, you need to plan your own mini-conference with your own team of pals way before you arrive. Meet every morning for a breakfast to compare notes and get your team assembled. This gives you time to check in with others and find out if there are new fun things you might want to add to your day. Make sure you have guys on your team in case some guy is trying to bother you, they can tell him to get lost.

4. Write your own schedule for "Must-See" sessions. Prepare a schedule way ahead of time. Limit it to 3 sessions a day. When you are there at the conference and people suggest other sessions, think about how far away they might be and if they are really worth it.

5. Have an objective. I often decide that meeting one particular person I've been eager to meet is enough for a conference, even if 200,000 are actually attending. Who cares. Plan to meet one person who matters and make sure you do that.

6. Don't do drugs in foreign countries. Do I have to even SAY this? Nobody wants to read your blog from a foreign prison, especially your family.

7. Take comfortable shoes.

8. Take a coat with a hood. (No need to carry an umbrella which you will lose anyway.)

9. Add a day up front to your schedule to get over jet lag.

10. Remember you can have your phone or laptop stolen anywhere in seconds -- especially when you're tired or jet lagged.

Bill Aulet introducing
Charlie and Brad Feld at MIT

The Calloway Way: Results and Integrity -- Fireside chat with author Charlie Feld at MIT Sloan

Last week it was a pleasure to sit in an auditorium full of MIT Sloan students who love everything about leadership and know their tech down cold. Brad Feld, the TechStars founder, and mega-entrepreneur is a rock star in this crowd. He was in Cambridge to host a fireside chat introducing his uncle Charlie Feld’s new book on the legendary leader, Wayne Calloway, called The Calloway Way; Results & Integrity.

Wayne Calloway joined Frito-Lay in 1967, stepping up to CEO in 1976. After this he was PepsiCo’s CEO from 1986 to the mid-1990’s. The book’s foreword was written by current PepsiCo CEO, Indra K. Nooyi demonstrating how high female talent has risen since the Madmen days when Calloway ran the company.

In the book, CEO Nooyi explains how fortunate she was to have worked at Pepsi when Calloway was there and explains his leadership mantra. “The Calloway Way … meant getting results with integrity.” As she says, “He understood that … talent is the deciding factor that takes a company from good to great.”

The fireside chat ranged from challenges CEO’s in our digital networked age will face, to Calloway’s sage advice for leaders and how timely it still is. “I think Calloway would be an extraordinary leader today,” Brad Feld said after explaining what an inspirational CEO he had been to so many current business leaders, "more influential than Jack Welch."

Calloway was an early pioneer in leadership theory about how to attract and develop great talent in order to make a company grow. “We aren’t going to run out of financial capital but human capital first,” author Charlie Feld said as he and Brad talked about the book and Calloway's great thoughts on talent.

Charlie credits his own success in business (his company was sold to EDS in 2004 and then to HP in 2008) to the 20 years he spent at PepsiCo learning about leadership from Wayne Calloway.

Brad Feld had more to say on CEO’s and leadership as well, quoting VC Fred Wilson’s 3 lessons for CEO’s from his blog, AVC and his well-known MBA Mondays series, “A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.”

Brad Feld recent trilogy of books on the entrepreneurial ecosystem is essential reading for this crowd at MIT Sloan. His Startup Communities, Startup Boards and Startup Life teach entrepreneurs how to thrive in a world Wayne Calloway would have welcomed.

Brad and Charlie Feld talked about how you grow a small start-up team or a very large company, leading with Calloway's simple advice. In 1995, Wayne Calloway gave a speech explaining how growth and great talent go hand in hand, "... eventually, a non-growing business withers and dies. Nobody with real ambition goes to work there. The good ideas and good people go elsewhere." “Calloway believed in results, not at all costs, but results with integrity,” author Charlie Feld explained.

Throwback Monday? Looking foreword to seeing Guy Kawasaki and Laura Fitton at #FutureM.

Ironically, found this picture I took on another website where a message about copyright popped up as I tried to download it.

Yo! I took the picture in 2011, and yes, you took MY photo without permission.

(Boston 2011:  Laura Fitton @pistachio Twitter for Dummies author, with Guy Kawasaki, Canva Chief Evangelist)

Make Peace: Pope's Advice to Newlyweds

My absolute favorite story today was this -- the Pope will marry 20 couples at the Vatican and he gives them advice about how to stay happily married.

Pope's advice to newlyweds: Argue, let the plates fly, but never end the day in anger (paraphrase) @romereports http://t.co/Wb5HEIqqRA
— Halley Suitt Tucker (@Halley) September 12, 2014

Crowdfunding:  What's the Big Rush?

I'm in the last week of another Kickstarter crowdfunding project and was thinking about why these projects are so intense. Crowdfunding is new and strange still, as it was two years ago when I did my first successful Kickstarter program, and much has changed as it gains visibility, but one thing about it has not changed from the beginning. It needs to be urgent. It needs to go fast.

What's the big hurry to raise money in a very short month and jump into #making and #prototyping so quickly? Well, #makers understand something it took me a while to learn. There is no limit to problems in this world and equally no limit to great ideas, smart people, capable makers and money in this world.

You've heard it before: the only limited resource is time.  Time. Why are we rushing to get things built and invented and in the hands of customers?  Because these things are solutions to problems.  And these problems need solving as quickly as possible. Because there are many more problems to solve after we solve these. Why do we keep asking for your financial support?  Because "With a little help from my friends" is the leverage point that makes crowdfunding take off fast.

"WrightGlidersSideBySide" by Wright Brothers -
Library of Congress. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

With the impatience of youth and the wisdom of age, we need your help to fix things now because time is wasting. And it is a rush to hit your goal and then fly into #maker mode. And backers can be equally proud that they are changing the world.

My first project was raising money to write a book about women entrepreneurs. I felt it was urgent to get more women into technology, make them believe they could be founders, show them it wasn't such a mysterious business, encourage them to join startups and accelerator programs. If I convinced one woman to start a startup, I'm thrilled. She's out there solving more problems just like us!

This project is about #LED lighting adoption. It's not going fast enough. My team at MIT has integrated #LED light with sound and made a beautiful way of marrying the two called The Q by Belleds.  It's important that people start using this amazingly low-cost, green, beautiful way of lighting their lives. We also want hackers to join us in developing new ways to use The Q.  We need this to happen fast!  As we reach our goal, we feel an enormous rush, just to see our ability to fix things in this world take hold.  Please don't make us wait!