The Launch That Almost Wasn’t

Ad Atlas launches on Thursday.

This is something I’ve been working toward for over a year. Back in January, I told myself I’d make sure it launched this year, and at the time, that felt totally doable. I was working with Builder.ai to build the platform. I had designs in progress, weekly calls on the calendar, and a monthly payment that made me wince but felt like forward motion.

Meetings, money, files being uploaded. To me, that spelled progress. My new year’s resolution seemed well within reach.

Fast forward a few months, and the folks at Builder.ai had their own reckoning, declaring bankruptcy and dissolving the company. The actual coding progress on my app? Nil. I had designs, decks, and dreams. But no code, no product, and $12,000 gone.

It was gut-wrenching. I wasn’t a business owner. I’d never done anything like this on my own. My career has always been about making other people, brands, and products look good, celebrating everyone else’s success. The writing on the wall seemed clear: I wasn’t meant to captain a ship. I was meant to keep the engines running.

But thankfully, I’ve got family, friends, and mentors who never quite let me settle into that story. They reminded me (sometimes gently, sometimes not) that failure isn’t final. Everyone hits walls. Success is waiting on the other side of fear. In short: suck it up, keep going, or stay stuck.

And then something unexpected happened. I felt relieved. Working with another company had given me a false sense of security. When that fell away, I realized I finally had control. This was my project, my platform, and my dream for better or worse.

Now, I’m days away from launch. It’s not perfect, but perfection already cost me enough time and money. What it is, though, is real. And it’s ready.

I hope it helps people. I hope it resonates. But mostly, I’m just proud that it exists at all.

To everyone who’s encouraged me, listened to me ramble, or even doubted me just enough to light a fire...thank you.

There’s still so much work ahead, but at least now I can say I’m doing it. Succeed or fail, I’m in the game, and that alone feels like a victory worth celebrating.