Building Ownership

What changed

By 2005, I had learned how to build, market, and sell products.
What I did not have was ownership in the upside.
That pushed me to leave and found Exocortex.

What I learned

Consulting can fund the journey, but products create leverage.
Negotiating to keep IP can turn services work into durable assets.
Great technical execution matters more when you also control the business outcome.

The $1M Learning Experience

Clara.io browser-based 3D editor

In 2012, I bet on browser-based 3D editing with Clara.io.
The vision was compelling: cloud-native, collaborative 3D creation on any device.
We launched to strong enthusiasm, grew to more than 100,000 users, and attracted respected investors.
But students and hobbyists loved it more than professionals, and they were not the buyers who could sustain the business.

Traction proved the idea was interesting. It did not prove we had product-market fit.