Our Story: 1 Year in the life of a startup

It's just sad that we're in such a deeply narcissistic society where self-glamorization is now so normal that nobody even notices it.

I learned nothing from your posting about much of anything except how cool and groovy you think you are. Granted, you are talented -- but that's not the point you should emphasize. In the end, it's not about you. But, is that maybe what you _do_ want it to be about?

All this said, I see you as victims of the society and times. You grew up in a world that values Fame and Attention more than anything else. It's important to note that despite that, you studied hard, learned much, and have applied it well. The last sentence and the first are what counts: Great job on a clearly very useful technology.

I have to say that the writing style aggravated me. "We were but swaddled babes, greenhorns looking about ourselves at the vast and splendiferous plain of entrepreneurial possibility that lay before us." - this sounds like you are poking fun at yourselves, which is cool - but I don't think you are. Which makes it not cool.

This would largely be solved by toning down the thesaurus usage, I think. You used a lot of cool sounding words instead of their simpler, clearer alternatives.

Anyway, that's just me. I do think the product looks pretty awesome though. I wrote a few characters on the demo, and it went really well. It seems like someone who has zero knowledge of chinese wouldn't be able to use the demo at all, though.

Still, that's just my $0.02, and I am grateful for others sharing their early stage stories.

I studied mandarin a couple of years ago in college and used flashcards. Your site would have come in handy.

I am going to make an account today!