Pardon anyone who thinks I'm taking this off the rails to discuss VC instead of writing-- you read that right; I don't need a pardon-- but the easy-to-grade, 5-paragraph stencil essay is a perfect metaphor for the venture-funded startup: creatively immature, built to impress and fill a templateable need (funding pitch, acq-hire) rather than to purpose, formulaic and easy to crank out even on a deadline.

Ok, I won the thread and I'm taking it home with me.