I started Textfyre in 2007. At first I was just trying to build Interactive Fiction (text story games, also known as IF) games and sell them. Once I realized th

I started Textfyre in 2007. At first I was just trying to build Interactive Fiction (text story games, also known as IF) games and sell them. Once I realized there was no captive audience for such things, I nearly quit. But then I noticed my kids elementary school textbooks. They sucked. I also noted how stressful the entire testing regiment had become. So I thought maybe IF could solve the problem. So I pivoted to an ed-tech firm and though selling games to schools was a better model. This led to actually getting a team together. I had a CEO, CFO, teachers, marketing help, testing expert, and many supporters. We had the basics of an "embedded testing" web application built. We actually managed to get the attention of The Gates Foundation and talked with them for several months. In the end, The Gates Foundation focused their efforts at the big players (like Pearson) and we were left out in the cold. My team disbanded and I gave up. Of course now "embedded testing" is all the rage (there was just an NPR story about it), but unless you're one of the big players, you're not getting anywhere. I have another idea I'm researching, but I'm much more pragmatic about it than I was with Textfyre. I'll build it on my own, spend as little money as possible, test it, and see what happens. It's very hard to be a first-time unproven entrepreneur. If you manage to succeed and get one exit, you're golden and investors will hand over money without really asking any questions. Once they know you can "execute", they will support you 100%. The trick is to learn how to execute. I'm still learning.