Sadly today Toygaroo announced that it was closing down. It has been an interesting and exciting ride for me. And I worked with some great people. But, not every business works. What seems good on paper doesn’t always pan out.

Over the past 20 months I’ve received some great feedback from people who love the idea. That kept us going.

From a technological point of view it was exciting to me. I got to progress the software core that I developed for FilmAmora and move it on to a new market (the US), a new sector (toys) and a larger budget! This was a great experience as a software developer – something that a lot of us don’t get. The chance to run a bank of servers, integrate with high end systems and build something that billed lots of money is cool! (Now, of course I come from the betting world where we turn over more in a day than Toygaroo did in its lifetime, but its different when its your name on the masthead).

From a personal point of view I met some great guys in Toygaroo and getting to spend time in LA was awesommmmme. I’d never really been to LA much (one trip to Hollywood back a few years ago for business) and I had some locals showing me around. Nice!

Life is all about progression, and I know that Toygaroo was a few stones along my zen path. I’m excited to hop onto the next one.

I’ll be writing more about the Toygaroo experience in the coming weeks. There’s a lot to tell.