Entrepreneurs know they need grit to persevere through tough times. But nothing could have prepared me, or my entire company, for the perseverance we would need to show when two-thirds of our staff was suddenly engulfed in war zone.

My husband, Kenny Rosenblatt, and I started our gaming company, Arkadium, in 2001 in New York City. We were two determined 25-year-olds, hungry to trade our cushy six-figure salaries for the risks of entrepreneurship. It was a low time for our industry — the bubble had just burst, and I was looked at like a lunatic when I announced that I was going to start a tech company with my (then) boyfriend.