New York City sisters Cassie and Jacklyn Collier grew up playing lots of board games with their family. Years later when they were looking for a gift for their parents, they decided to make a personalized board game that would capture the spirit and dynamics of their family. The game worked so well they knew they could recreate it for other families and groups of friends, and their business Bundle was born. Now they are making personalized games that bring people together with shared memories, inside jokes and traditions.
Casie Collier’s story, as told to The Story Exchange 1,000+ Stories Project:
My sister and I were looking for a gift for our parents that felt like us — something personal that really captured our family dynamics and inside jokes — but we were having trouble finding anything in stores or online. We decided to channel our love of game playing into creating our very own board game, and Bundle was born. In a high-tech busy world, Bundle has the power to allow you to connect with the people right in front of you.
My 86-year-old grandmother has always said, “Find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Starting Bundle has been such a dream for me. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua, I taught entrepreneurship classes to high school students, and I was always so inspired by the grit and tenacity they had to start their own businesses. In many ways, it was that experience that propelled me to start my own company. To me, success is living my grandmother’s words every day.
“In a high-tech busy world, Bundle has the power to allow you to connect with the people right in front of you.”
– Cassie Collier, Co-Founder of Bundle
One of our biggest successes was when a customer told us that playing Bundle brought her three young kids together after a divorce. This made me realize that the mission of Bundle is larger than myself. We want to revolutionize the board game industry. We want to change the way people communicate with those they love. We want to bring the world closer together, one board game at a time!
Our biggest challenge has been having zero experience in the board game industry. When we did a soft launch in October, we had no idea how to get a game manufactured, how to design cards or how to get in stores. We live by Sara Blakey’s motto, “What you don’t know can be your greatest asset if you let it.” And so one day, we walked into the largest board game store in NYC and asked them — over and over and over — to sell our game. We didn’t leave the store until the owner agreed to put it on his shelves. We learned later that was NOT how board game inventors typically get their games on their shelves, but we didn’t know any better!
Our parents are our biggest role models. Games were a huge part of life growing up in the Collier household. Our dad would give us poker tips (he used to get paid to play for the house in a local bar), and our mom created sibling bonding games where we had to compliment each other to receive a prize. This love of games only intensified as we got older, and we bet on horse races, escaped rooms and insisted that our freshman dorm-bonding activities were several rounds of Catch Phrase followed up by any board game we could get our hands on. We are very appreciative for them for instilling in us a love of play and games.
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