A lot of very smart people I read were talking about an article that came out from Marc Andreessen (co-writer of Mosaic browser, and all-around smart VC guy) saying that now was the time to build. The argument is obvious: when things are down, smart money takes the opportunity to surf the new wave of change, and the only way to be ready for that wave is to have the idea/business/product/model/function started before the water swells.

Connecting with consumers is the key skill essential for building stronger brand bridges. It requires an end-consumer orientation for evaluating14 considerations and questions that will help in building a successful strategy for your brand.

Metrics, anyone? EB Rock star Shaunda Zilich writes up a nice piece on EB metrics. I was going to quibble with it until I realized that the best part of the article is unstated: Metrics are gibberish until you decide what your strategy is first. You can measure oodles of things and easily get batted around like a leaf on the wind unless you have clearly defined what you are trying to do and deciding the metrics on that. Once I saw that, I realized how great the article was.