I love simple, descriptive tag lines (or mottos) for companies. My first company – Feld Technologies – has a very clear motto – “We Suck Less.” I was at Newmerix yesterday looking at some of their new stuff. Whenever I’m asked about Newmerix, I describe them as a “software quality assurance / change management suite for packaged applications.” The long version – on the Newmerix web site – is:

Last week it crossed my mind that I hadn’t seen any new VC bloggers in a while. Suddenly – in a matter of days – three popped up: Bijan Sabet (Spark Capital), George Zachary (Charles River Ventures), and Rob Hayes (First Round Capital). I’ve invited them all to the FeedBurner Venture Capital Network. If you are a VC blogger and not in the network, drop me an email.

My next marathon is on December 9th at Kiawah Island. Dean Kanazes – who is 44 marathons into his 50 in 50 quest (a marathon in each state over a 50 day period) just did #44 on Kiawah Island. His description of it is motivating – even with the wrong turn that added a mile or so. Dean finishes up this weekend in NY – he’s been blogging daily on what has turned out to be an amazing run.

The first public stuff about one of my fun new investments has started to emerge. Me.dium – which is based in Boulder and funded by Spark and Appian – got a few writeups including one in GigaOm (Medium Makes Web Browsing Social) and David Cohen’s Colorado Startups (Me.dium – Social discovery in real time*.)* Both do a nice job of introducing the concept, including the challenge of having your Me.dium “aha moment” which – once you have it – you’ll totally get it. Bijan Sabet – a partner at Spark and new VC blogger – also has a quick post on it.

I was at a board meeting on Friday for a company that is doing great and growing quickly. This will be their second year of revenue and – for a software company – it’s far ahead of its peers for being in its second year of having products in the market. I’m really impressed with and proud of what the founders and leadership team have built to date – and they are good at being introspective about what is working vs. what is not working.

Education in Colorado is a well known “issue” for anyone that lives here. While our current (and soon to be previous) political leadership (e.g. the governor’s office) hasn’t done much, a number of incredibly hard working and dedicated people – such as my good friend Jared Polis – have thrown themselves deeply into the challenge of trying to improve the education system in Colorado. Lisa Reeves of SAP – who happens to live in Boulder – send me two great things last week. The first is a remarkable blog called The Fischbowl which is spearheaded by Karl Fisch – the Director of Technology at Arapahoe High School. It’s an awesome example of how blogging can be used to in a high school. In addition to Karl’s blog, Lisa send me a superb presentation that everyone should click through and ponder. My favorite slide segment is “Name this Country:

As I pried my eyes open with toothpicks this morning due to my fatigue from yesterday’s lousy run, I looked forward to another week. Monday’s usually bring lots of fun little tidbits since people crank out a long thoughtful blog on Sunday night and the local papers usually run their major tech interest stories Monday morning. A couple of my friends / investments showed up. Me.dium: Matt Branaugh of the Daily Camera profiled Me.dium – one of the Boulder-companies I’ve invested in that is going after my poorly named “dynamics of information” problem (a free blog post and mention to someone that comes up with a better name for “dynamics of information.”) I’m having a ton of fun with Me.dium – I just made myself “visible to all” so anyone that installs it can see where I’m surfing at any moment in time. Being 25 Again – Sort of: Scott Converse – the CEO of ClickCaster – has a long rant on what it’s like to be in your 40’s and starting up a new company. Fred’s Kids and His Slingbox: Fred Wilson’s family is a consumer of products from companies I’ve invested in. They love their hand-me-down Sidekicks, rock out to Guitar Hero, and will soon be enjoying TV via their Slingbox. I can’t wait for Halloween. I have some surprises for my friends that I’m going to see on Tuesday. Plus – I expect I’ll get to overload on chocolate and not feel guilty.

My run today was abysmal. It’s been beautiful in Boulder the past few days (high of 75 yesterday) and I was looking forward to a great run to town, followed by a massage, and then a hang out at a friend’s house to watch the Broncos lose. It’s 13.5 miles from my house to Boulder. It usually takes me about four miles to get in a groove on a run like this, although by mile two I’m usually loosening up and feeling happy. As I hit the Mesa Trailhead on 170 (2.6 miles) I actually considered turning around and running back home. I was tired, achey, generally felt like shit, and had no energy. I decided to gut it out to the corner of 93 and 170 (the 4.5 mile mark) – if I was still feeling rotten I’d either turn around and do 9 or call Amy and have her come pick me up.

Failure can be “positive” – John Funk at Evergreen IP is about to start writing about a project he and his partners just killed. Understanding why things don’t work – and then doing something about it – has always been a key part of the entrepreneurial process (at least mine.) Part of the premise of John’s business is that a lot of projects that they take on will fail – I expect he’ll have some powerful insights to share.