So the world is now flocking to hear the music of hardware startups. Kickstarter is rockin’ with all types of makers testing the market for prototype demand and feedback. The press is full of flowing prose for founding teams that are “taking the offline online” and creating “the internet of things.” Is this all “sensor-y” overload? (thank you, here all week).

I’ve mentioned AngelList before and Promus Ventures is a strong supporter of the platform and privileged to be an investor in the company. They just came off quite a week.

The Falcon UAV is a small unmanned aircraft system that has received an FAA Certificate of Authorization (COA) in conjunction with the Mesa County (CO) Sheriff’s Office for flight operations covering all 3,300 square miles of jurisdiction.

Don’t be that guy that freaks out every time you hear a new startup has entered your space. View it as market validation. Don’t be that guy who spreads rumors and bashes his competition in private and public conversations. Rather embrace the competition and know that it makes you better.

I was visiting with the founders of a company in the Promus Ventures’ community last week. The KPIs of this company have been growing well week over week until the last four to six weeks where the numbers have started to dramatically increase. There have been continual improvements to the product, but generally they are running the same playbook as before and now are netting more yardage per play. What has changed?

Every industry has its impressive panoply of words that somehow become basic nomenclature. Startupland has its doozies, and here are the ones at the top of my list.

What coaches first teach you when learning to play football is how to properly tackle an oncoming player. Head up, back straight, make direct contact, keep your feet moving, and drive the player into the ground. If your approach is wrong, you can get hurt badly. Once you feel a stinger down your spine because of poor form, you quickly learn not to make that mistake again.

The annual Lollapalooza festival was just held here in Chicago with a record 300,000 attending the three-day event. I remember attending Lollapalooza in St. Louis back in 1992 w/ Pearl Jam playing a summer afternoon set supporting their still new “Ten” album. Me and by buddy Jeff in the 3rd row watching one of the most explosive live sets I’ve ever seen…

The new paradigm is upon us. Just as social media is no longer an investment trend but now an essential tool in every business, so go the new four horsemen of software startups: mobile + cloud + data + design.