After graduating from high school, I was living a seriously bum life. I was sitting around doing nothing on the couch, playing the video games I'd loved for years. Eventually I knew I had to change something, and I had an itch to start creating.
I started contributing a lot of content on forums for a certain video game website, and my commentary attracted so much attention that I brought the site a lot of extra traffic. I figured, if this is going so well, then I might as well do it myself. So I started The Koalition, a gaming site aimed at urban youth. It was a new approach, and it really took off.
I started working with some other startups, which was great, but I still wanted to do stuff with video games. I thought, why not an app? That's how Playd was born.
Playd is like Foursquare for gamers: You can "check in" when you're playing a game on a console or your phone, and rate how much you like it. You can also discuss and share with your friends. We're launching a beta test in August. It hasn't been easy, but I am so excited. -As told to CNNMoney staff reporter Julianne Pepitone
Eight African-American entrepreneurs are spending nine weeks living and working together. CNN's Soledad O'Brien is chronicling their journey in Black in America 4, which airs November 13.
