After two years of building a tabletop gaming platform with a digital flair, Denver startup The Last Gameboard is quickly approaching a crucial production milestone. After raising a seed capital round earlier this year, founder and CEO Shail Mehta is excited to bring the system to life. Since launching in January 2019, The Last Gameboard has been building a portable, 3D touch tabletop game product for gaming fanatics. The 16-by-16-inch surface using Gameboard’s internal technology can bring your favorite board games to life.
What’s been your biggest 2021 accomplishment? Gameboard has seen massive momentum during Covid-19, as many people were looking for ways to connect and play tabletop and RPGs [role-playing games] together but couldn’t. We were able to sign on more games, more partnerships and secure our seed round of $4 million during 2021. This year was big year for us but the most important accomplishments were growing our team, finding exceptional talent and using our momentum to launch our beta program — which is now live for all to join!
Are you in the stage of the life cycle you expected to be at this time? We are a full year delayed because of Covid. We launched our Kickstarter at the end of 2019 and were on track to close a round of funding in February 2020. Pandemic hit and the world stopped. I did everything in my power to keep employees on payroll (PPP, EDIL, Colorado Lending Source). It also allowed us to focus on the key features that we thought were further down the line like network play (allowing people to connect with anyone, anywhere). This ability to connect through Gameboard, making us the central platform for all board games, tabletop games and RPGs was something we didn’t see happening so quickly. We are “back on track” and releasing first units in December of this year.
How would you define your company’s “new normal”? We have learned two important things: We cannot replicate what it means to gather in real life (no matter how hard we try) and the future of work is hybrid. Gameboard’s team proudly represents over six countries and collectively speaks over seven languages. Our team connected over games, tabletop and Dungeons & Dragons. We were able to find the most incredible talent because of remote/hybrid work. We have our HQ here in Denver but hope to continue searching for the best talent, despite geographical boundaries.
What’s your next big move? I couldn’t be prouder of our team for taking a hardware and software product to beta so quickly. We are shipping our Kickstarter units out this December to send Gameboard out into the world. It’s a very exciting (and nerve-wracking) time for our company. We can’t wait to see gamers all around the country playing, testing and connecting through Gameboard.
What’s your No. 1 piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? I get this question a lot. There honestly isn’t a single piece of advice that will resonate truly. As an entrepreneur, you have to look for all the little things that create the bigger picture. As creators, we have to have a clear vision for our product. Know what it’s limits and then push them. Second, as a startup founder/entrepreneur you must master your market! Know everything there is to know about it. Be the thought leader in the category. Most importantly, be resilient. Ideas are a dime a dozen; we all have them — it's your passion and your ability to execute that will create the business.
The Last Gameboard
Category: Lifestyle
Location: Denver
Top exec: Shail Mehta, founder and CEO
