Reality Check A look back at the growing pains and gains made by the stars of <i>The Startup</i>, <i>Entrepreneur</i> and AOL's year-long reality series.

Editor's note: Read more of The Startup, by going to AOL keyword "The Startup" or click here.

What sounded like a novel experiment to a freelance writer, several Entrepreneur editors and a handful of producers at AOL's Small Business programming department must have sounded like a dream come true to a small group of entrepreneurs last year. That's because Entrepreneur and AOL teamed up in April 2004 to launch an online reality series, The Startup. For an entire year, four different startup businesses would be followed, and readers could chart the entrepreneurs' progress.

While this would mean a year's worth of free publicity, the catch, of course, was that the stars of The Startup would be forthright about each and every blunder they made in going about their business. Still, unlike some reality shows, they wouldn't be asked to eat live insects, walk around a beach half-naked, endure countless inane challenges or even have cameras on them every minute of the day.