How should I write about a project that struggled before finding an audience?
A comeback can make an earlier setback look like a neat story about being ahead of the moment. Tyra Banks's account included doubt and loss as well as surprise and enthusiasm, and your own project history should keep that same complexity. Start with a dated sequence you can support.
Describe what you intended, what happened and what changed later. Keep your interpretation separate from the record.
Don't assign motives to the people who turned the work down unless you have evidence. Their concerns may have been about the specific proposal, the timing or the information available back then.
Explain what you learned without pretending you saw the later response coming. If an audience found something you didn't expect, say so. Surprise makes a story more useful to someone deciding something now.
Finish with what the experience changes about your next choice. A credible origin story helps readers understand a process. Leave a detour as a detour and a critic as a critic.