Fellow non-developer and non-designer comrades, we must survive Sillycant Valley.

What is Sillycant Valley?

If Dante were a startup guy, he'd find Sillycant Valley somewhere between the 1st and 2nd Circles of Progress Purgatory. Sillyacant Vally is Non-Starters' Land. It's the early-stage state of startup characterized by lolligagging, indecision, frustration leading to more brainstorming, and spaghetti-throwing against non-stick walls. Time and energy vampires run rampant feeding on necks of juicy baseless conjectures...your motivation's worst enemy. 

My friend suggested that I try this everyday for a week and closely monitor results:

1. Find a place to sit quietly, preferably alone.
2. Induce yourself into a bout of uncontrollable joy and appreciation. 
3. Hone in on the source and let it overhaul everything you do (phone calls, email exchanges, meetings, etc.) the rest of the day.

This exercise is uniquely human. The goal is to rescue zombie'd brain capacity from the digital piranha preying upon our dwindling patience, care, and attention. Remember what it’s like after forcefully unwiring yourself Day 2 of a 5-day vacation? The importance of important things is amplified.

I know it's played-out like Atari, but this double-rainbow guy must have it down. 

"I was asked to moderate this panel. This panel will be everything but moderate."

Moderation has little elbow room at the table alongside hungry student founders whose mission is to build ventures that rail on social ails. 

In the backdrop of the Occupy protests, I had the privilege to moderate the panel, "Seeding, Nurturing and Growing Student Innovations," at TiE Boston's Forum for Social Entrepreneurship 2011 (#ForSE2011).  Along with four student founders, we had 45 minutes to explore the process of transforming ideas into entities across campuses and society.