Eden Ghirmai is a software engineer who graduated from the University of Washington and took jobs at Google and then Slack. While working in big tech, Ghirmai and startup co-founder Calli Fuchigami got to a point in their careers where they wanted to pursue something independently and create their own venture. An avid gamer, Ghirmai naturally gravitated toward games after exploring several concepts.

The subsequent venture, Flying Comet Games, is a small, independent game studio that creates daily playable word and puzzle games for digital publications and casual players everywhere. Some games, however, are aimed at capturing players in a single place: Seattle. Their flagship offering is the “Wordy-verse,” a collection of themed word games inspired by the mechanics of Wordle, featuring a Seattle category (that can be found in The Seattle Times) and others such as TV shows, hobbies and fandoms. Beyond word puzzles, Flying Comet Games is experimenting with mini-games.

The duo behind the company have relocated from Seattle to the Bay Area, but Ghirmai still often thinks about the education he received from the iSchool. To this day, Ghirmai often shares how his time at the iSchool laid the foundation for his success as an entrepreneur. He gained expertise in software engineering — a core skillset — as well as the many elements required to create products that truly resonate with users. Ghirmai credits the iSchool for blending academic rigor with practical, real-world knowledge, equipping graduates to be well-rounded entrepreneurial leaders throughout their careers.