Hey, author here. I was working part-time for months, we had a live product with customers, a thesis, and an execution plan. This part was maybe lost in the post.

We raised, continued down the same path, and only then realized it didn't make sense. I was being honest about my motivations in hindsight here, realizing after the fact that the product we had at the time wasn't the idea of my life and that I really wanted to go out on my own (and took the chance that appeared).