I fall a lot
I started figure skating when I was 4 or 5. It was my Mom’s idea. She wanted something of her own to do with the kids.
The first thing you learn when you’re taking skating lessons is how to fall. My sister would even stick a pillow in the back of her pants to cushion herself.
Nothing cushioned the fall she took on her chin. Blood on the ice. Stitches.
Almost two years ago I went through Y Combinator a second time (S2011). We built some pretty cool technology to help companies brand their own versions of popular games. Games like Bejeweled. Imagine if a company like The Gap let you play their version of Bejeweled, but instead of jewels they were Gap logos, and pictures of models wearing the latest shirts, and you could even win a prize.
We had people playing an average of two hours a day. I was pretty damn excited and hopeful.
But we weren’t getting enough repeat business. The...