Wild Playing Cards

• Category: Entrepreneurship & Product Design
• Role: Co-founder & CEO
• Years: 2020-2023
• Archive: Instagram

Overview
Wild Playing Cards was a playing card brand a friend and I founded during the pandemic, born straight out of my love of magic and card handling. Over three years we took it from an idea between two students to a real brand: designed products, a live e-commerce store, a social following, and decks in people's hands. Our Kickstarter beat its funding goal by 110%, driven by influencer partnerships and marketing aimed squarely at the card-collecting niche.

What I Did
As co-founder I wore every hat a tiny company demands. I worked on the product and graphic design of the decks and promotional material, built and ran the online store, planned and executed marketing campaigns, managed orders and fulfilment, and handled client consultations, all while delegating and coordinating work so the two of us didn't drown.

The Retrospective
We wound the brand down in 2023, and I count it as one of the most valuable things I've done. Building a company, even a small one, teaches lessons you can't get from employment: what a product really costs to make and move, how marketing spend actually converts, what it feels like to be responsible for every decision. Knowing when to close something down gracefully is a skill too. The brand's Instagram lives on as an archive of the work.