Brynn Putnam, the founder of the connected fitness startup Mirror, is back with a new venture. Her new startup is a tech-powered gaming console that blends elements of board games and video games. It is called Board.
After selling Mirror to Lululemon for 500 million dollars in 2020, Putnam returned to entrepreneurship to develop this new product. She unveiled it for the first time on Tuesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference in San Francisco.
Similar to Mirror, Board incorporates aspects of both the real world and the digital one. The device is a gaming platform designed for friends and family to gather around, much like a traditional board game. However, the game board itself is a screen that can recognize touches, gestures, and physical objects.
The screen is 24 inches and is housed in a wood-finish frame. This size is intended to allow four to six people to sit around it and play games together.
At launch, the product will cost 500 dollars and will come with 12 games and 50 game pieces. Putnam stated that over time, artificial intelligence will be used to customize the device for each user.
She explained that they are excited about the long-term power of AI to personalize the experiences. This could include vision and voice inputs, adaptive storylines, dynamic environments, and accessibility features like translation and voice-to-text. She believes that AI will eventually allow anyone to create on Board, transforming it from a game console into a place for creative self-expression.
To create the initial games, the startup’s internal game studio collaborated with external developers. The longer-term plan is for more developers to build games for the platform in the future. The company also intends to offer an app store where others can bring their own experiences to Board.
The company is backed by Lerer Hippeau, the venture capital firm that led Mirror’s seed round, along with First Round and Box Group. To date, Board has raised 15 million dollars and is currently raising a Series A round.
When asked why she chose gaming for her next idea, Putnam replied that play is universal. She noted that while not everyone loves working out or working out at home, play unites people. She described it as a universal language that connects and brings people together.