Last week WatchParty competed in Distilled Intelligence 1.0, a major new event showcasing startups in the DC area. For me, this was a major event because the organizers at Fortify.vc were actually giving away cash to the winners, and I like cash. A lot.

I was the very first person to apply to be one of the presenting companies. Weeks before I had been told whether WatchParty was accepted, I began asking everyone I knew what I should include and exclude from my pitches. As soon as I knew the format, I began developing a 60-second elevator pitch and a three-minute presentation.

I practiced my presentations in front a a half dozen people, getting feedback and revising my pitches until they were as good as I could get them. Then I practiced, practiced, practiced. I was in it to win it.

On the big day I felt good, kept practicing, and was ready to go. When my time came, I grabbed that mike and launched into my minute-long pitch like I'd been doing it my whole life. I was nailing it.

And then I choked.

My mind went blank. I couldn't think of what I was supposed to say, why I was there, what I needed to do.

I stuttered and stammered, and watched the seconds tick away until the moderator called "time" and and crawled back to my seat.

All I could think about was how I'd blown my big chance. I felt lower than I've ever felt – I let myself down, let me team down, and let the event organizers down. I humiliated myself in front of some of the most important investors in the DC area.

As I left the room, everyone told me how it was going to be all right, how I'd done great, and that I shouldn't worry about it. I went to the parking garage and contemplated shutting WatchParty down and just giving up. I was literally on the verge of tears, hating myself and feeling stupid for every having thought I could succeed. Pulling ut my hair, tearing my clothes, and general self-flagellation.

Then, suddenly, I stopped.

One thought crystalized in my head, and everything became perfectly clear – what I'd done, why I'd done it, and why I was going to keep on doing it. That thought was, to be very blunt,

"Fuck it."

There is no way in hell I am going to let 18 months of my life and everything I have accomplished be defined by one 60-second pitch. Like my friend Pat said, "This is a story you get to tell when you're rich and famous." Hell yes.

So, even though I choked, I win. I came out of it better and stronger, and fully committed to what I'm doing.

After this revelation, I went back upstairs and thoroughly enjoyed myself for the rest of the day. And I haven't stopped smiling since.

A month or so ago, I started watching every episode of the original Star Trek series with my 10-year old  daughter. She loves it. I just spent 30 minutes going through this infographic with her, and she's so excited to see all the Star Trek stuff she didn't even know about. Father-daughter nerd bonding is awesome.

I've got to get her fully prepared in time for Rod Roddenberry's new documentary about the franchise, premiering on Science in November.

Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

I'm starting a list of phrases I hear smart people use quite often that annoy me. My reason for doing this is to help ensure I never use these phrases, and to warn those of you I love and respect that I will not hesitate to verbally abuse you should you use any of these in conversation with me, or on my Facebook page, or anywhere else.

"X" is the new "Y"

If you've ever wondered why true innovation is so very rare, look no further. Certain people's need to define every old thing by announcing it is being replaced by some new thing is a pretty good indication that they can't actually imagine anything new, or think of any interesting way to talk about something new themselves.

Just sayin'

If you have something to say, say it and move on. Do not waste my time with inane redundency. Do not attempt to appear hip or cool by announcing that you have just made a statement. If you do, you are an asswipe.

Facebook/Twitter/Google+ already does that.

Oh, I see. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter the Internet has nothing more to offer. Nobady could ever do anything better than Facebook, Twitter or Google, so we should all pack up and go home. Thanks for being so visionary as to save me precious time I might have wasted on innovation. Douchba

It's like "X" for "Y"!

This is a Hollywood thing that VCs and other investors have co-opted to make them seem more cool when talking to entrepreneurs. I get the purpose: To simply and quickly express the concept of what you're doing. It's a noble purpose, but really it's just a cop-out. It's a way for Hollywood execs and Silicon Valley bigwigs to say "I'm too important to listen to you, so you must win me over in a single sentence." The problem is, nothing that's truly innovative can effectively be plugged into this formula. How would you describe the original Star Trek series using this silliness? What would you say about the MacIntosh computer? "It's like a computer for humans!" Wow.

The "like 'X' for 'Y'" thing is harder for me to ignore, because the important people truly expect this so I kind of have to play along when I'm talking about WatchParty or other ideas. But ask yourself this: Are the truly great Hollywood movies great because they fit this mold, of because they don't? The Godfather, Star Wars, Jaws, Forrest Gump, hell, even Ferris Beuller's Day Off are great films in part because they were unlike anything else that had come before. The point is, formulae stifle innovation.

I'll probably keep adding to this list, but this is a nice start. Feel free to email me if you have any to add.

I set up a Posterous site where anyone can post stories, links, images, audio and video related to Hurrican Irene. It's at http://IreneStories.com

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Last fall I wrote a post about what I called "Micro-networks". I've been doing a lot of thinking about the evolution of online communities since then, and this post is an updated revision of the idea.

The next significant evolution in the way communities form online is well under way, and it's clear that the focus is on settings: social behavior based not on an ever-growing social graph, but on shared interests and actions at a certain moment in time. (Jason Schwartz calls this the rise of a "social circle" era, but I prefer to talk about "social settings". But I'm not arguing semantics here.)

A "social setting" is any website or app that connects you to other people because you are all doing the same thing right now, in the same place. Yobongo, WatchParty, Planely, ASpaceApart, Hurricane Party, Color, Path and Matchbook are all examples. (Please email me if you'd like to add others to the list.)

There are several reasons why social settings are becoming more prominent. One major reason is social network fatigue. People have begun to recognize that many of the "updates" they receive are valueless, and that the larger their social graph becomes the less value they get from it. That doesn't mean Facebook and Twitter are doomed - they will most likely continue to dominate online social connectivity, but there's no doubt that people are looking for ways to connect socially in spontaneous ways that don't require permanent friending or following.

Another reason social settings are on the rise is the advancing capablilty of mobile technology. Being online is no longer antithetical to being outside, now that smartphones and tablets have eliminated the boundaries between your actual, physical setting (a coffee shop, concert, or neighborhood) and the virtual world of social connections (Facebook and Twitter). Where you are and what you're doing right now need never be separate from your online life.

This change in online communities has profound implications for businesses and consumers. They make it possible, for example, for the neighborhood coffee shop to offer specials to customers when the customers are in the immediate area or even in the shop, with the potential to turn a $5 purchase into a $10 purchase every time a customer walks in the door. Consumers, on the other hand, will have many more choices offered to them. Just as online content is served based on a user's clicks, mobile content can be served based on a where a person is and what he or she is doing.

I predict that over the next 12-24 months we'll be hearing a great deal more about social settings (or social circles), but that may be self-fulfilling. I'm moderating a panel on the subject at TechWeek in Chicago this July, and will be posting more on this topic over the next several weeks.

This morning as I was chugging coffee and crossing items off of my to-do list, constantly pushing my startup forward, when I found myself repeating the phrase "the next six weeks will be critical" each time I finished some small task. My initial reaction was, "Oh hell yes they will! I've really got to work hard and pay attention!"

Then it occured to me that there hasn't really been any time in the last year that I've haven't considered the next six weeks to be critical. In fact, it's highly likely that no matter what actually happens in the next six weeks, the six weeks after that will be critical. And the six weeks after that. And so on.

In reality "six weeks" is an arbitrary time period. I could just as easily say "four weeks" or "eight weeks" and still be pretty accurate in terms of how critical they will be. But for some reason my brain chose to focus on six weeks.

I'm taking it as a hint. From now on, I'm going to try to build planning and timelines in six-week intervals. That way, when I find myself thinking how critical the next six weeks will be, I will at least know what exactly is supposed to happen during those weeks, and what I should be thinking out instead.

Gorgeous afternoon to see the Yankees beat the Red Sox opening weekend
in Boston.