It’s the night before the competition, and I’m scared.

Tomorrow, I’m submitting my project to the Columbia Startup Competition.

I know I have a good product: a video game engine w/ AI. Cursor for Video Games. I made it because I wanted it, and I know other people will too.

I might not do well. I might not get past the first screening. But I know doing things like this are important, and I will hone my pitch like a tool.

That’s not what scares me. I’m scared, becuase I’m already behind.

Let me back up.

Earlier this year (or was it last year?), I had the idea for the engine, later called Aristotle. I knew it didn’t exist at the time, and I knew I could make it. I really wanted to make it.

But I didn’t. It took me so long to even get started. I thought it up, I think, December 2024. I barely got work done in Spring 2025. The whole Summer, I deliberately did nothing. I was exhaused from my Grad School courses + my full time SWE job. But I told myself I’d lock in during the Fall Semester.

That didn’t happen. As I’m writing this, it’s February 2026. And my engine isn’t close to done. I have no users, no traction, and no investment. It just exists as a file on my computer. The best I have is a pitch, and a really really good idea. Refined.

But the world didn’t wait for me. One of the big dogs caught up.

When I came up with the idea, there was no competitor doing the same thing. Unity and Unreal didn’t have AI built in. The best I saw was a small plugin made by one guy that half worked. But some time in 2025, Unity released Unity AI.

I’m scared.

I wanted to follow Cursor. They beat Microsoft to the punch. They launched before VS Code had copilot. They make 100 million in annual recurring revenue, with 25 people. This all happened becuase they were first.

I don’t know if I’m going to have that luxury anymore. I worry this will scare investors. It’ll make them think that it’s just a feature, not a product.

Still, not all hope is lost. Features can be bought by the big guys. And I have the fundamental advantage of an agile small company, who needs to prove themselves to survive. I always thought Cursor won because their product was not just first, but better. Copilot sucked. Most likely, Unity AI will too.

So it’ll be harder. A lot harder. I’m kicking myself for not working faster, being more disciplined. I tried to shape my Columbia classes around the startup to force some external accountability, but that didn’t work. It has to come from somewhere, and be drilled in to me.

I’m not going to end this with some false confident platitude about how I’ll suddenly be super disciplined, win the startup competition, and make a billion dollars. This is really really hard, and I am more scared of failure than I was yesterday.

But I’m still going to make it.

-Matt