As an investor, board member, and 4-time entrepreneur, I am constantly amazed by the number of business ideas that are pitched that just don't make sense.  And I am not talking about some amazing wisdom or insight that I possess (or more likely do not possess), rather I am talking about business ideas that just don't pass the test of common sense.

Ideas that don't make sense are often ideas that don't scale, that have lousy margins, or that are not differentiated in any meaningful manner.  They are ideas that have not thought out sales, marketing, or overall customer acquisition and retention.  They are ideas that are features and not products (more on this one in a future blog).  And they are ideas that the team executing on it just don't have experience with in the past.

Over the last few months I’ve been involved directly, or indirectly, in a number of negotiations. They’ve had their ups, downs and movements of sideward sliding into anarchy – most negotiations do.  What has struck me mostly is that each of them was fundamentally driven by the concept of fairness.  And, often, what is fair is determined by context – the various factors that lead a negotiator to think that his position is fair.  Understanding the drive to fairness and context is essential to getting to a deal.

The discussions about saving money in your startup continues, and there are a lot of good ideas out there.  But in this thrifty environment, is the workaholic the best hire?

Just a few weeks back I wrote about how cash flow is king in a startup.  And maybe you saw the recent postings by NYC Entrepreneur and super-blogger Jason Calacanis.  Jason wrote recently about how to save money in your startup, and he created a whirlwind on controversy around a few of his ideas, particularly the one about dedication.  I think he has a lot of very good ideas in his list (and there are quite a few in the posted comments below his original blog), and every entrepreneur should take these ideas to heart.