I find two things get me into a rut when it comes to writing blog posts:

1. Under-Consuming - if I’m not reading sites & other blogs, keeping up with twitter, and talking with co-workers about what’s going on, I don’t feel qualified / justified to produce my own posts.
2. Over-Consuming - if, on the other hand, I find myself consuming massive amounts of ideas and input from others, I tend to feel overwhelmed with thoughts and unable to keep up with consumption, much less able to process the ideas and provide appropriate added insights.

Recently, I’ve been doing both.  First, my new baby boy threw me off my normal consumption habits.  Then, at SXSW, I was pummeled with inspiring ideas and communication.  Throughout it all, of course, I’ve been busy as ever at work.  So now I’m inching my way back into a routine as best I can …

Late last year, we had the idea to launch a blog for each of the “Labs” at Viget – strategy, design, development, and marketing.  Early this year, as we sat down to do it, we decided we should relaunch viget.com as well, and put it all on ExpressionEngine.  Last week, we launched it all, just in time for SXSWi (I am writing this from Austin, in fact), and the response so far has been great (thanks, everyone!). 

I wrote a longer post about our blog plan on the redesign FourLabs (i.e., “all about Viget”) blog — I welcome any thoughts or feedback you have on the concept …

Last week, Brad wrote a post about why and how he passes on certain investment opportunities.  I’ve gotten to know Brad a bit over the past couple of years, and occasionally introduce start-ups to him that I think might be of interest.  I can confirm that in every case he’s quick to respond, very professional, and very frank.  He doesn’t just say “no” but also doesn’t pull punches or waste people’s time.

For him to take the time to write a post outlining his evaluation process shows how much he cares about the people he’s connecting with.  It’s invaluable — if not a bit intimidating (appropriately) — to any funds-seekers to understand how he looks at deals, especially because I would expect that it’s not all that unique among the top-tier investors in this space.

A dual post today on two great programs that all early-stage web start-up teams should know about: TechStars and LaunchBox. 

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