No one prepares you for the year that comes after. Most startup stories skip the middle—the uncertain grind where belief has already cost you everything and success is still hypothetical. After leaving stable careers to build a safety platform born from a friend’s tragedy, Tim and Chelsie Wolter face the reality of the leap: stalled fundraising, medical emergencies, and the quiet, crushing weight of responsibility while outcomes remain unresolved. This is not a success story. It’s a book about endurance. Written without hindsight polish, The Last Year captures the lived reality of navigating risk without guarantees. It explores leadership, marriage, and integrity, asking a harder question than Will this work? What does it cost to keep going when quitting would be reasonable, but walking away would be dishonest? For anyone who has ever carried weight on behalf of others, this is a record of the fire—and the decision to keep walking. "For the crew who stood in the fire when there was every reason to walk away. This book is our record of that year in the dark, and the proof that we’re still walking. We do this for our families, and we do it together." — Tim Wolter