i dropped out of the university of delaware to move to new york and teach web development at general assembly. i was twenty-something and convinced that knowing how to code was the only skill that mattered.

that was 2013. a decade ago.

since then i've been part of a yc startup that didn't make it, designed a learning management system for schools in developing countries, built an ar retail app that was ahead of its time, started a company that got acquired, and now i'm building again.

most of those things failed. not dramatically.. no spectacular flameouts or cautionary tales. they just... stopped working. the team ran out of energy, or the market moved, or we solved the wrong problem. the quiet kind of failure that doesn't make for good storytelling but teaches you everything.

the thing about starting over is that it gets easier and harder at the same time. easier because you've done it before and you know the playbook. harder because you know what's coming.. the eighteen months of uncertainty, the conversations that go nowhere, the days where the only progress is figuring out what doesn't work.

venice ventures was born from that decade. five founders who'd all been through the cycle enough times to know that the most valuable thing isn't capital or code.. it's having people around you who've been in the shit before.

now with moshi i'm back at zero. a blank editor, a half-formed idea, and the same nervous energy i had in 2013. except this time i'm not convinced that code is the only skill that matters. i think it's taste. knowing what to build is harder than knowing how to build it.

delaware to los angeles. general assembly to moshi. a decade of starting over.

the only thing i know for sure is that the next one will feel exactly like the first.