Who is Fletch and what are ball bearings?

In the classic 1985 comedy movie, "Fletch", the lead character by the same name (played by the actor Chevy Chase) wanders into an airplane hangar, picks up some tools and begins working on a LearJet. He is clearly not a mechanic, nor does he belong in the hangar. When pressed for his opinion on a certain technical matter by a pair of "real" mechanics, he responds “Oh c'mon guys, it's so simple, maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings these days.” Clearly, it’s not all about ball bearings, but Fletch's bravado and misguided technical reference works. No one calls his bluff and he is allowed to remain in the hangar. He has beat the system.

If I fast forward 25 years and change the venue to a conference room in Tysons Corner, Boston or Menlo Park, I am being bombarded with the same kind of bravado and technical references about: mobile advertising, social networking, the semantic web, switch grass, carbon nanotubes and also about outsourcing, insourcing and crowd sourcing. Unlike the mechanics in the movie, who are so easily duped by Fletch, I am being paid by my limited partners, not to fix airplanes, but to figure out who is merely full of bravado and misguided technical references and who actually has a promising business opportunity in the making that we might be able to invest in and return enough capital to our investors to beat out our competitors. Through this blog, I will attempt to chronicle the more interesting parts of my journey toward this end. It is possible that one of us will learn something from the experience. It is optimal that both of us will learn something...

If you want to find out more about ball bearings, you can check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_bearing.