As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve been having a lot of fun with Tom Evslin’s blook hackoff.com. Several weeks ago, I got on a conference call with Tom Evslin, Matt Blumberg, Kelly Evans, Stephanie Miller, and Fred Wilson and recorded a scene in the book. Tom put it up on the hackoff site today in two segments: here and here. I played Joseph Windaw of Windaw and Wallar Venture Capital, a very white shoe VC who has a lifetime pass to the Harvard Club. As a jewish kid with a couple of degrees from MIT that wears sneakers, it was a tough role for me but Tom said I pulled it off fine. The balance of the cast is described in detail on Tom’s post about the recording.

It’s been a while since Jason and I wrote an entry for our Letter of Intent series. Yesterday, as I read through a confidentiality agreement that I had been asked to sign, I was inspired to address another typical part of an LOI – the dreaded confidentiality / non-disclosure agreement. While venture capitalists will almost never sign these in the context of an investment, they are almost always mandatory in an M&A transaction. If the deal falls apart and ultimately doesn’t happen, both parties (the seller and the buyer) are left in a position where they have sensitive information regarding the other. Furthermore, it’s typically one of the only legally binding provisions in a LOI (along with choice of law and break up fees.) Everything else is dependent upon the deal closing. If the deal closes, this provision largely becomes irrelevant since – well – the buyer now owns the seller.

I took the day off and played with my friends. Some of the places I hung out in were “above the action.” I got to hang out where the president struggles with the weight of the worldly issues that he doesn’t really want to deal with. I can’t tell you much more about it – you’ve read my file, you know what I’m capable of.

Congrats to my cousin Jon Feld, his business partner Todd Price, and all the folks at Navigator Systems – they announced on Friday that Navigator Systems has been acquired by Hitachi Consulting. Jon and Todd started Navigator Systems 15 years ago. At the time, I was running Feld Technologies – my first company. I remember a seminal discussion in my grandparent’s garage in Florida when Jon told me that he was going to leave Frito-Lay and start Navigator. At the time, Jon was a Lotus 1–2–3 stud so I hired Navigator (for one of its first contracts) to do some Lotus 1–2–3 modeling for one of our law firm clients. I hope Jon still has the invoice he sent me – that’s definitely something that should end up in a frame on a wall somewhere.

I guess it is only fair that while Jason and I rip on the IRS, accountants, and lawyers regarding 409A, we make take a few shots at the VC community. VC’s are perhaps the most uninformed population with respect to the 409A guidelines. In general, it’s been very disappointing to here other VCs speak about the regulations and make grotesque over-generalizations regarding their applicability. At this point, I can’t remember how many “this isn’t right” emails that I’ve had to send. At least I have a blog that I can send them to (of course – not for “official advice”), as opposed to having to type the same email 100 times.

This just in from the Wall Street Journal News Alert service. The White House unveiled its budget proposal for fiscal 2007, which starts in October, calling for $2.77 trillion in spending. Though the U.S. government will remain deeply in the red next year, the federal budget deficit should dip to $354 billion, a decline from the current year’s projected record $423 billion shortfall. Only negative $354 billion this year? Respectfully Mr. President – you’re a Republican. Can’t you figure out how to run up a bigger deficit than that? Gotta go – five more minutes left to pack.

Lon Sunshine (a frat brother) sent a group of us a way to waste our entire day. I’ve decided to share it with you. I gave it two minutes and managed to go 12.547 seconds. I’ve got to go pack now – I leave for the airport in 10 minutes

Are you a media company that is tired of losing online traffic to the RSS capabilities incorporated into My.Yahoo? NewsGator announced the general availability of the NewsGator Hosted Solution (NGHS) and will be showing it off at Demo. If you are a publisher, media company, or content provider and want to incorporate an RSS Aggregator into your site to increase the user experience for your online users, NewsGator has a great solution for you. Look for launches from Newsweek.com, SFGate.com, and Macworld.com in the next month. Oh – and look for the elusive “FeldReader” – whenever I manage to find a few spare hours to put it together.

I love exponential curves – they are beautiful things. Whether they are linked to positive or negative things, they signal opportunity. Dave Sifry – CEO of Technorati – has started on his February 2006 State of the Blogosphere report. He starts off with a very pretty exponential curve and begins his periodic dissection of the growth of the blogosphere.