Starting Hopscotch: What Week One of Building a Tech Company Actually Looked Like

I didn't start Hopscotch with a business plan. I started it with a problem I kept running into and a Notes app full of half-formed rants about it. Week one was less 'founder mode' and more just admitting the idea wasn't going away on its own.

The actual work was unglamorous: eleven customer conversations squeezed into lunch breaks and evenings, a rough sketch of what the product could be, and a spreadsheet estimating whether this was even worth my nights and weekends. No funding, no co-founder yet, no announcement.

I'm documenting this in public because most 'building in public' content starts after the exciting part already happened. I'd rather show the actual beginning — including the parts where I had no idea if this was a good idea.