Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

What sparked the idea of The Last Gameboard for Shail Mehta?

23 Sept 2022 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Shail Mehta recounts the origin of Gameboard, describing how a simple idea and a white‑paper‑based patent concept led him to seek an engineering co‑founder. He tracked down Rob Wyatt—formerly the system architect for the original Xbox and a contributor to Magic Leap and PlayStation—by discovering Wyatt’s love of local craft beer. Shail delivered a 6‑pack of beer to Wyatt’s office as an ice‑breaker, pitched the Gameboard concept, and highlighted Wyatt’s hardware and prototyping expertise, which were crucial for turning the idea into a product. The narrative emphasizes the personal, informal recruitment tactic and Wyatt’s impressive technical pedigree, underscoring the blend of vision, patent groundwork, and strategic talent acquisition that sparked Gameboard’s development.

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What sparked the idea for Gameboard? And then after a corporate career, how you found your way back to the connecting power of games, specifically involving a 6-pack of craft beer. That's how I met Rob Wyatt, my co-founder, one of my co-founders. I have 2 other co-founders, but you know, I needed an engineer to build Gameboard. It was a, it was an idea and it was a white paper and I knew there was a patent involved in it, but I just, it was an idea. And I, I showed up at his office with a 6-pack of beer 'cause I Googled him and I found out he loves like, you know, local beer. So I showed up at his office with a 6-pack of beer and I was like, hey, I have an idea. I think there's a patent involved. And Rob, he's phenomenal. He was the system architect of like the original Xbox. He helped build like Magic Leap, PlayStation. He has a random Oscar sitting in his house for like some work that he did. Like, he's amazing and he's talented and he's great with like hardware and prototyping.