Why I started this.

I'm Dan. This company exists because I lived the problem I'm trying to solve.

I've been building things since I was a kid. Lemonade stands, eBay hustles, whatever. When I was 13, my dad hired me to build an iOS app for his company. I had zero programming experience, but I figured it out. That's when I fell in love with building software.

Through high school, I kept building. Freelancing for startups at the Harvard Innovation Lab, launching my own apps, teaching other students how to code. I was good at it. I was driven. And I was completely alone.

Sophomore through senior year were probably the darkest years of my life. I worked constantly, surrounded by adults decades older than me, building things none of my friends understood. I stopped hanging out with them. They eventually stopped reaching out. I remember coming home from school and curling up in my parents' bed for comfort because I felt so isolated.

College was supposed to be different. I tried to be more social, more confident. But I was performing. I was modeling myself after who I thought I should be, not who I actually was. It was exhausting. It didn't work. I didn't make a single close friend in four years.

After I graduated, I finally started working on it. I stopped pretending to be someone I wasn't. I started with one friend. Just being honest about my shit instead of hiding it. We'd actually talk about real things. It was uncomfortable. But it worked.

Then another friend. Then more. I learned I could be vulnerable without it being weird. I learned how to listen. How to set boundaries without feeling guilty. I'm still learning. The old patterns are still there. Pushing people away. Being afraid of getting too close. But I'm getting better at catching myself. I'm not done. This is something I'm going to keep working on. But it's real progress.

For the past three years, I've worked at an AI startup building sales tech. That's where I became an expert in AI. We built AI-powered roleplay training to help sales reps practice conversations and get feedback. I saw how powerful it was. I also saw where AI was heading.

And I saw the loneliness epidemic getting worse. AI companions designed to replace real connection. Social media engineered to maximize engagement instead of actual relationships. When I read the Surgeon General's report on loneliness, I realized this problem is massive, it's accelerating, and almost no one is investing in real solutions.

I thought about it for a year. But I didn't think I could do it. I'd gotten used to being someone else's employee. I'd lost the confidence I had as a kid. I was scared.

What changed wasn't a single moment. It was a bunch of small, beautiful moments. People who believed in me, gave me advice, offered support. Eventually, I realized: I care about this problem. I have something to contribute. And I'm bootstrapping this myself, so worst case scenario is I burn through my savings. That's it. I can handle that.

So I'm doing this. Not because I have all the answers. But because I've lived the problem, I understand the technology, and I have nothing to lose.