Good morning, All, and we told you there’d be a holiday party!

Apologies for the late notice, but it’s been a bit hectic lately and actually, Hans Zaunere gets all of the credit for organizing the event and thank you, Hans! RSVP: http://www.bootup.io/holiday-party/rsvp and if you’re in NYC, hope you can find the time to stop by and raise a glass of cheer!

Last week we attended VatorSplash, and kudos to Henry Blodgett, CEO, Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Business Insider for his 10 Commandments (for entrepreneurs). It’s as close as we plan to get to an end of the year Top Ten list, and there’s some very good advice here, beyond the obvious (1. Build something you care about). One that hits particularly close to home: Don’t “be an entrepreneur” — Build a great product and company. Lots of people can go to events like Vator Splash and come up with ideas and say “I am an entrepreneur,” but a brilliant entrepreneur will focus on nothing but building the business. Reduce other activities “to the exact amount of time that is helpful.” Right. For the complete list: http://bit.ly/eVDSCg. Also worth checking out: the pearls of wisdom from blip.tv founder Mike Hudack, who changed his original business model before it was even de rigueur to pivot, (http://vator.tv/n/14e3)and boxee founder Avner Ronen (http://vator.tv/n/14e6), who refused to take no for an answer.

Oh, and hopefully, once we move into twenty eleven (or are we going to call it twenty ones? Just a thought), can finally move on from ‘pivot?’ Getting dizzy. Any guesses as to what the next industry buzzword will be and let’s not forget that we started the year with ‘lean.’ Thoughts? Drop us a note. Curious to hear what you think.

As promised, the Fast Company piece (Pearls of Wisdom From Bootstrapping Entrepreneurs ) that featured three of the SOS startups who responded to our press query a few weeks ago. Congrats to you guys and thanks! Here’s the link,(http://bit.ly/eKv5Kd) – but you do have to be logged in).

Pieces we like this week:
How To Close An Angel Round: http://bit.ly/dVFO3J. Roger suggests you ask two things of this angel: (1) can you use their name and hard commitment when speaking to other investors; and (2) might they leverage their networks on your behalf as part of your fund-raising efforts. We’d add a third: Is this angel someone with the industry connections to help you move your company forward in other ways besides financing. Again, just a suggestion.

How to Run Better Presentations & Improve Results. Sage advice from someone who has sat through more than his fair share of presentations and of course the bottom line is always the same: know your audience. http://bit.ly/hG21e7

15 mistakes young entrepreneurs make, but don’t have to. [Part I ]http://bit.ly/hwYIV0. It’s just the first 5 of 15, but we’ll report them as they become available. And it’s a countdown. You’ll have to wait for the #1 reason. Guess it’s just that time of year…

Finally, in light of the groupon/google non-starter we all just witness ($6 billion, Gracie?) there’s How I Screwed Up My Google Acquisition. http://bit.ly/ev0qcO. No editorial here. Can you say ‘dodgeball.com’? A location based service that GOOG acquired – and pretty much let die on the vine. Shut it down when they launched Google Latitude. So, dodgeball.com co-founder Dennis Crowley finished his obligation and seems to be doing much better, sans Google, with Four Square. Three sides to every story.

Oh, and since it’s that time of year: 5 Sure-Fire Ways to Enjoy Every Day of Your Life. Because it’s gotta be done: http://bit.ly/dGOjde

Chuckle of the day: if you missed the First Round Capital holiday card, happy to share the video of guys who would never otherwise have a shot at making it into an Old Spice commercial, and we love you all just the same: http://bit.ly/dKxMM0

And now it’s that time again. Happy Holidays to one and all and before the fat guy sings – or at least makes his way down the chimney – help is one the way…