The motto for my first company was “We Suck Less.” Many years later, with the price of oil at some silly high price, it seems all the more appropriate as a slogan. Thanks Chris for catching this ad, remembering the story of my first company motto, and for forwarding it on. I wonder if Gebhardt will send me a check for the free advertising – I can tell them how many clickthroughs they get.

Today’s Paris Art Tour is brought to you by “Rodin’s Very Own Personal Van Gogh.” I woke up this morning, had an expresso (my very bad French for “really tiny, really strong coffee”), and started the day off with a meeting at Sofinnova Partners. I then walked back through Place de la Concorde, across the Seine, and connected with Amy and our friend Ed Roberto on Saint Germain near Richart Chocolates (possibly the greatest chocolates in the world.) Everything felt very familiar, which scared me a little bit.

I did a quick podcast interview with Outside In Innovation a few weeks ago when I was at MIT at Eric von Hippel’s Innovation Lab seminar. There are two segments – How VCs View Users and Usability and Innovation Through Acquisition. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to generalize my comments for all VCs (in fact, I’m sure it’s not), but I thought Jim and Jonathan did a nice job of rapping on these topics. If you are into the 53,651 meme (or the idea that the first 25,000 users are irrelevant) or you just like to listen to me talk (hi Mom), there is some good stuff in here that pre-dates those posts.

I just read Picasso’s War, the story of his creation of the painting by the same name, the history of Spain that inspired the painting, and the subsequent activity around the painting from 1937 to 2002 when the book was published. Picasso is one of my favorite artists. Guernica is one of his signature paintings. I remember the discussion in my first modern art course about it (modern art – at least in that course at MIT – was defined as post-impressionist art forward, Picasso was the anchor of all modern art, and Guernica was one of the most – if not the most – important piece of his work.)

Carolyn Curiel wrote an editorial yesterday in the NY Times titled “Let’s I.M. as You Read This.” A friend sent it to me with the suggestion that Carolyn might have been thinking of my treadputer when she said “Still, something feels missing. I think of the executive who positioned his office computer above a treadmill, so he could walk constantly, keeping fit as he ran a business.” If only she knew how much more I actually concentrate on my three hour conference calls when I’m on the contraption.

NCWIT had a “town hall” event at the National Academy of Sciences Auditorium last Wednesday. Along with the NCWIT participants were a number of special guests, including Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), Rick Rashid (SVP Microsoft Research), and Senator Mark Udall (D-CO). The agenda included a keynote address from Padmasree Warrior (EVP and CTO of Motorola), an Executive Branch Panel, and a Congressional Panel. I wasn’t able to attend because of my trip to Paris, but Lucy Sanders (NCWIT’s CEO) told me the event went extremely well. Thanks to everyone who participated.

A reader asked me the other day if – in the words of Charlie Munger – I have a “mental model” for investing in early stage companies. I do, but I’d rather give examples of the two best approaches I’ve heard of from other people. This first approach is David Cowan’s Road Map investing at Bessemer. He recently wrote a short “road map post” on Television 2.0. While it’s really just a pithy overview of what David is starting to think about, it gives a good feeling for what the executive summary of a new road map might look like.

Jason and I occasionally get asked “why are the majority of companies incorporated in Delaware, regardless of their actual physical location?” Besides being difficult to spell (c’mon – you thought there was an “e” instead of an “a”, didn’t you), Delaware offers some tangible advantages over incorporating in other states. While we aren’t experts on state laws outside of California, Colorado, and Delaware (e.g. feel free to offer “my state is better than Delaware to incorporate in” comments), we thought we’d summarize a few of the reasons below.

Al Gore on SNL. I have no idea if this is legal or not, but it’s hilarious. Thanks Don and Rick, my liberal friends.