I love this exchange with Marc Andreessen in Bubble? What Bubble? (NYT):

After hearing a story about Foursquare’s co-founder, Dennis Crowley, walking into a press event in athletic wear and eating a banana, I developed a theory that bubbles might be predicted by fashion: when tech founders can’t be bothered to appear businesslike, the power has shifted too much in their favor.

MarcA: Believe it or not, this goes deep into the interior mentality of the engineer, which is very truth-oriented. When you’re dealing with machines or anything that you build, it either works or it doesn’t, no matter how good of a salesman you are. So engineers not only don’t care about the surface appearance, but they view attempts to kind of be fake on the surface as fundamentally dishonest.

So if you wonder why you regularly see me in black shorts and beat up sneakers... that's the ticket. ;)

Adam, you're fabulously authentic and should always remain thus.

Actually, I did a Zappos order right after writing this, so next time you see me my sneakers will be new. ;)