Allen Nance

12 months ago, I boarded a plane, leaving Germany to immigrate to the US… I thought it would be the most exciting chapter of my life. Instead, it became the hardest year I've ever lived. In August, just one month after my arrival my dad suffered from a heart attack. I was thousands of miles away. No family. No friends. No support system. Then came the hidden costs of starting over: Birthdays alone. Holidays alone. In November, my world broke again. My sister was diagnosed with lung cancer. "She's just 22. How is that even possible?" I asked my brother. Every time she texted me while I was at the office, I silently went to the restroom to cry. I couldn’t let anyone see me fall apart. In December, I flew back to Germany. By day, I sat with my sister through treatment. Nights working 70–80 hours to keep the company alive. There were moments I thought I was burning my life savings into the ground. Moments I felt It was all for nothing. Then January 1st, everything shifted. An article about @ui_agent was published. Next morning, dozens of companies wanted demos. From drowning to lifeline. But even then, building a company abroad wasn't glamorous. It was lonely. Painful. There were countless nights I sat in my apartment wondering if I had made the biggest mistake of my life. But those nights taught me resilience. Forced me to grow in ways I never imagined. Now, one year later, everything's different. My family overcame these challenges. I'm surrounded by friends and meaningful relationships. @ui_agent is thriving. We're winning against older, bigger, better-funded competitors. Most founders talk about "grinding". But real grinding isn't hustle culture. It's opening your laptop when your world's falling apart. Pitching investors the morning after crying yourself to sleep. Believing in tomorrow when today is unbearable. But here's what makes everything worthwhile... When I see accountants using uiAgent to leave work at 5 PM instead of midnight, to make it to their kid's soccer game, to have dinner with their spouse, to simply breathe, I understand that our pain had purpose. We suffered through 80-hour weeks so thousands of others wouldn't have to. That's the beautiful irony of entrepreneurship: You have to lose your work-life balance to build something that restores it for everyone else. And when you see families reunited at dinner tables because your product gave them their evenings back, you realize that every hardship was just the price of creating something truly meaningful. Today, I'm proud to share @ui_agent raised $4.6M from @MarathonMP with participation from Rerail. Honored to welcome Chase to our board. Special thanks to @gokulr, @ChaseAPackard, @AlexGorgoni, @MBGilroy and @danonanthony for your belief and support. Most importantly, thanks to my team who worked days, nights, weekends to build the most successful company in Accounting AI. A category uiAgent will dominate and lead. PS: If you’re an accountant who wants hours back, or a talented builder who wants to help us on our journey, reach out at ew@uiagent.co.