Games Aren't Just Child's Play

I am the founder and co-manager of North Star Games, a company in Maryland that designs, publishes, and markets original board games. Our mission is to bring people together through memorable experiences that inspire laughter and cheering while engaging the mind. I have been designing games since the sixth grade but got the idea to start this company when several friends started arguing over who could take Cluzzle (our first award-winning game) home for the holidays.

I attended the MBA program at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland to find a business partner and learn how to start the board game company of my dreams. My passion about the benefits of face-to-face social interaction led to my choice of industry, but I was delighted to find out that the board game segment is growing quickly. In fact, most parts of the industry have been outpacing those of computer games for the past several years.

CAPITAL CONNECTION.  As a Dingman Scholar at the Smith School, I was required to work 10 to 20 hours a week at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, where I consulted for local entrepreneurs. My job was to help people find capital by working on their business model and plan.

This experience gave me the tools and relationships needed to raise $200,000 in seed money for North Star Games. An MBA is nearly essential when your goal is to take a product to mass channels because it goes a long way toward convincing investors to trust you with their money.

Since we are in the early stage, I am involved in every aspect of making the company grow. This means there is no typical day for me. Instead, the layout of my day depends on whether we are developing a new product, creating a marketing plan, making sales calls, structuring legal relationships, filing for intellectual property, raising capital, or determining our strategy.

Here's a look at a recent day in my life:

9 a.m. -- I never set my alarm. Whenever I wake up is when I turn on my computer in the living room and make coffee.

9:15 a.m. -- I look over my e-mail and respond to anything important. My partner, Satish Pillalamarri, whom I met at business school, and I returned from the International Toy Fair in New York a few weeks ago, so we have already followed up with the big-name contacts...

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