Welcome to an industry flooded with countless products, where standing out requires more than just a good idea—it demands strategy, passion, and the ability to connect authentically with your audience. Today, we explore the inspiring journey of a founder who transformed her love for nature and gaming into a thriving business, raising over $400,000 on Kickstarter. Her story offers valuable insights into effective marketing, the importance of pre-launch planning, and why authentic passion fuels success in the toy and game industry.
#119: Nature-Inspired Gaming: Biome’s $400K Breakthrough – Toy Business Unboxed
Episode Highlight
- 00:00 Meet Leonie: The Mind Behind Biome
- 01:28 Inspiration Behind Biome
- 04:42 Success of the Kickstarter Campaign
- 07:32 Thematic Choices in Game Design
- 09:05 Future Plans for Biome
- 09:47 Introducing Faekin: The Next Game
- 11:09 Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
- 12:15 Lessons Learned in the Toy Industry
- 13:04 Networking and Community in Game Design
- 15:06 Designing and Manufacturing the Second Game
- 16:20 Vision for the Future of Lioness Games
- 17:36 Marketing Strategies Beyond Kickstarter
- 19:20 Advice for Aspiring Game Designers
The Spark: From Personal Passion to Game Creation
Leonie’s story began with her love of board games and an unexpected career setback. After losing her tech job, inspiration struck while playing Wingspan, leading her to imagine a more interactive nature-themed game. During COVID quarantine, she developed that idea into Biome, inspired by her passion for biodiversity and early experiences witnessing species extinction. By donating part of the proceeds to wildlife conservation, she gave the game a deeper purpose that resonated with players.
Building Momentum Before the Campaign: The Power of Pre-Launch Strategy
A key part of the Kickstarter success came from careful pre-launch preparation. Nearly a year before launch, an engaged Instagram community was built through sharing design updates and creating trust, while local demos at board game stores and conventions helped generate organic buzz. Partnering with Launch Boom was also crucial—their focus on thorough preparation led to landing pages, ad testing, and email list building that paid off when the campaign funded in just nine minutes.
Authenticity and Mission-Driven Design as Key Differentiators
Nature and conservation shape every stage of her design process, influencing both the themes of her games and the mission behind them. Inspired by early experiences in California and a lasting concern for endangered species, she creates games that combine meaningful education with engaging play. Through her partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Network, that passion extends beyond entertainment into real-world impact.
Mastering the Crowdfunding Ecosystem: Lessons From a Successful Launch
Leonie’s advantage came from early, consistent community engagement, along with careful ad testing and email list building—both crucial for crowdfunding success. Partnering with Launch Boom strengthened her strategy, proving that a well-planned pre-launch reduces risk and speeds up funding. Her story shows that crowdfunding depends less on luck and more on preparation, emotional appeal, and building trust before launch.
Transitioning from Tech to Board Games: Lessons in Business and Creativity
The transition from the tech industry to the toy and game sector highlights strong adaptability and the value of transferable entrepreneurial skills. Although the industries differ, the same mindset—wearing multiple hats, iterating quickly, and staying customer-focused—remained essential. Success in community building, marketing, and production management shows how skills like project management, storytelling, and strategic planning can apply across industries.
The Business of Games: Distribution, Manufacturing, and Growth Strategies
Manufacturing and distribution have been key strategic considerations throughout her journey. Choosing to produce Biome in the U.S. provided greater quality control and shipping reliability, even with added expense, while helping reduce exposure to tariffs and supply chain disruptions. Industry conventions such as Origins, Gen Con, and Essen have likewise played a vital role in expanding visibility and creating valuable connections with retailers and distributors.
Future Plans: Expanding Product Lines and Industry Collaboration
Looking ahead, Leonie plans to expand Biome with new content, launch additional titles, and work as a publisher for other creators. Her approach is collaborative—supporting other designers with development and production, fostering community, and sharing industry insights. She recognizes that success in this industry is collective. “A rising tide lifts all ships,” she says, emphasizing the importance of building relationships and supporting peers.
Final Thoughts
Leonie Grundler’s story exemplifies that blending passion, strategic planning, and authenticity can turn a humble idea into a successful business. Her journey underscores the importance of pre-launch groundwork, genuine messaging, and industry relationships—not just luck but deliberate effort. Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn that leveraging their unique background and values creates products that resonate, ultimately building a sustainable and authentic brand.
Ready to bring your game or toy idea to life? Focus on what you love, plan with purpose, and connect sincerely with your community. Success is within reach if you stay committed, authentic, and strategic.
Connect with Leonie Grundler
If you’re interested in learning more about Lioness Games or connecting with Leonie Grundler, you can reach out through the following channels:
- Website: Visit Lioness Games’ Website for more information and updates.
- Instagram: Follow Lioness Games on Instagram follow for behind-the-scenes updates and announcements.
- Instagram: Visit Biome Board Game on Instagram for gameplay highlights and community news.
- Tiktok: Follow Lioness Games’ on TikTok for quick updates and exclusive content.
- Email: Email Leonie directly on contact@biomethegame.com for inquiries.
Transcript
Jason Hsieh (00:42)
Welcome back to another episode of Toy Business Unboxed. Today we are joined by Leonie the founder of Lioness Game and the creative mind behind the game Biome, a beautifully illustrated and natural-scene board game that really took the Kickstarter by storm. And she was able to raise over $400,000 with the Kickstarter campaign, which support over 6,000 backers. And she really bring a fresh perspective to the toys and game industry with a background in tech and a love for board games.
and also a deep passion for nature. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
Leonie Grundler (01:13)
Thank you for having me, Jason. It’s great to be here.
Jason Hsieh (01:16)
Yeah, so first of all, can you first share with the audience what inspired you to create your first board game and run the Kickstarter campaign? Was there any specific moment or story that you could share?
Leonie Grundler (01:28)
Absolutely. So as you mentioned, I’m a lifelong board game lover and it was the summer of 2022 and had just been laid off and from a job in the tech world. And so I was playing a lot of board games, especially wingspan. And I had the idea, what if there were predators or snakes that could eat the eggs from the other players? That would be such a fun game. So that was the spark, the idea for Biome was so definitely inspired by Wingspan, but I wanted some more player interaction and different types of plants and animals. So then over the next few months, this idea kept brewing and then I actually got sick with COVID and had a quarantine and I was like, okay, this is the time I’m going to start designing this game. And yeah, that was kind of the start of this whole journey.
Jason Hsieh (02:18)
Since you have the game with you, can you also show the game and talk about the rule for the game really briefly?
Leonie Grundler (02:24)
Absolutely. So here we have Biome and so it’s like a tableau builder similar to Wingspan and you essentially collect resources to play planet animal cards into different habitats and every season, so the game plays through the seasons and every season something special happens in your biome. So very thematic. So for example, in the spring, if you’ve played birds and rabbits,
next to trees or other plants, they will make nests or rabbits will burrow in the grass and then they will have babies. I have tiny little straw nests in the game and chicks and rabbits. And then in the summertime, if you’ve played predators, they will try and hunt the baby animals from the other players. But the more plants you have played in your habitats, the better protected your baby animals will be.
Leonie Grundler (03:16)
So there’s a lot of different ways to earn points and good, fair amount of player interaction. A lot of the actions involve other players. I want it to be another gateway type of game where board game lovers can invite friends who are newer to board games and then get them to play even more advanced board games.
Jason Hsieh (03:35)
Hmm, I see, I see. What is the typical play time?
Leonie Grundler (03:39)
I would say 60 to 90 minutes. So it depends on, you know, experience level player count, but somewhere in the 60 to 90 minute range.
Jason Hsieh (03:48)
I see, I see, I see. So you went from a tech background to board game design. What are some of the lessons you learned during this transition?
Leonie Grundler (03:59)
Oh my goodness. Yeah, it’s definitely a huge shift from, you know, being an employee to a founder and starting your own business. But I think some of the overlap is, you know, I was always working for startups and smaller companies and things are always fast paced and I got to wear many different hats. But now what I find especially rewarding is because it’s my own company, you know, I can really execute on the different ideas that I have and whether it’s running social media or the entire branding of the product, the fact that I get to make the final decision is super rewarding.
Jason Hsieh (04:31)
Yeah, definitely. I think it’s also an incredible story to have your, add your first Kickstarter campaign that you did with $400,000.
Leonie Grundler (04:41)
Yes, it was.
Jason Hsieh (04:42)
What was some of the main element that you think that was able to make it so successful?
Leonie Grundler (04:46)
Yeah, a few things. So one was I started already about a year before launch, started building my Instagram community. So I created an Instagram account and was posting regular design updates, getting to know the other content creators. And so when my campaign rolled around, organically we’re sharing about my campaign and posting about it. I was also running a lot of local events and demos.
at board game stores and conventions in the year leading up to the launch. And so it was really fun to get local board game stores and, you know, local folks excited about the game. Third, and I think most importantly, was I worked with Launch Boom. I don’t know if you’re familiar.
Jason Hsieh (05:29)
They were on our podcast before as well.
Leonie Grundler (05:32)
amazing. So yeah, they’re a wonderful team and they have this fantastic program essentially where you learn how to set up ads and grow awareness of your product before your campaign launches because their ethos is essentially if you have a successful launch, you’ll have a successful Kickstarter campaign. So what can we do to make you as successful as possible?
And so they found that typically 5 % of your email list will actually back your Kickstarter. And that’s an optimistic number. However, if people have already put down a dollar before your Kickstarter or any amount of money, they are 30 times more likely to actually back your campaign. So LaunchBroom had this great process for getting a landing page set up, helping you test different ads. My campaign funded within nine minutes, which was amazing. Pretty wild. So I’m really grateful for the whole launch team and process and all the supportive creators who helped me launch Biome
Jason Hsieh (06:33)
Yeah, I think all the work is really in the pre-launch, especially with the competitive landscape nowadays with Kickstarter. That was a golden age way back then that you can just launch without any kind of preparation and it still kind of worked. But nowadays you have to do a lot of preparation, many months before the official launch of the campaign that you just mentioned to build the audience, the Instagram page, run ads and really build an email list using landing page and do a lot of testing before the official start of the campaign.
Leonie Grundler (07:04)
It’s pretty funny that you have to spend money to make money. That’s common knowledge, I guess. But it’s pretty funny that you really do have to make an investment if you want to have a super successful Kickstarter campaign. As you mentioned, the times have really shifted.
Jason Hsieh (07:19)
Yeah, yeah. But I want to talk back to the game a little bit more. When you do the initial design, why do you choose nature as a scene? Is there a particular reason that you choose that scene for the first game?
Leonie Grundler (07:32)
Yeah. So I love animals and nature in general, having grown up in California, huge respect for nature. And I think I was between eight and 10 years old. And I remember learning that 10,000 species plants and animals were going extinct every year. That was shocking to me. And so I thought, okay, if I’m going to do this board game, I want
were the main themes to be biodiversity. So I really built that into the theme of the game. And I knew that I wanted give back with proceeds from the game. So I actually partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Network. And so I made a donation of $10,000 last year to them. And it’s pretty impressive. They’re ranked like 100 % on Charity Navigator.
to support their different wildlife conservation projects. So yeah, that was the main reason I wanted to stick with that theme. I think people, once they play it, they’re like, okay, I see why you built it this way. I’m really having to learn about balancing harmony in nature. And so yeah, that’s been really, really fun.
Jason Hsieh (08:39)
I see. Yes. Thank you for sharing that. when do you finish the Kickstarter campaign? That’s fairly recent right?
Leonie Grundler (08:45)
So it was last year around this time. believe I launched February 20th and then the campaign ended around March 20th of last year.
Jason Hsieh (08:54)
Okay, do you already finish all fulfilling all the pledge I did yes, no you did. Okay. Okay. Good So what is the next marketing plan for the buy-on going forward?
Leonie Grundler (09:05)
Yeah, so I’m preparing to start my next print run right now, which is very exciting. Also a little nerve-wracking given the situation with the tariffs. So we’ll see how that goes. most likely Biome will have a test placement in Barnes and Noble and see how it goes there. And then, yeah, I’m working with some distributors.
Jason Hsieh (09:22)
Okay, nice.
Leonie Grundler (09:27)
to bring Biome to local board game stores. It’s available for purchase on Amazon and through my website. And then I’m already starting to prepare for my next Kickstarter for Faekin yeah, I’m very, very excited about that too. So lots of things in the works for Lioness games.
Jason Hsieh (09:44)
I see. Can you talk a little bit about your second
Leonie Grundler (09:48)
I like to call it a simple but elegant social deduction game. real, you know, similar to Avalon, The Resistance, Ku, these types of games, but information becomes public quick, very quick. It’s just, you know, essentially a card game. My sister has been doing a lot of the art for the game, which has been amazing. So also some nature themed, cards going on here. And so information becomes public very quickly. Players are dueling to find out players’ identities. And it’s just really fast, really fun, quick game. So I’m very excited for it.
Jason Hsieh (10:23)
I see. Okay. Okay. Thank you for sharing that as well. And when is the Kickstarter campaign going to be long?
Leonie Grundler (10:29)
most likely late May.
Jason Hsieh (10:31)
Okay, got it. Okay, thank you for sharing that. And you’re also using the process you learned from the first launch that you’re trying to apply to the second Kickstarter campaign as well.
Leonie Grundler (10:40)
Exactly. Yep. So I’m working with Launch Boom again to launch Faekin
Jason Hsieh (10:45)
I see. And ⁓ I think a common, I guess, crossroad decision that a lot of the people in the industry need to make is to either go with self-publishing or go try to pitch your product to a bigger publisher. think you, it sounds like you made the decision to go with a self-publishing route. Can you share a little bit about the reason and the difference you have considered as far as going self-publishing or licensing a product to a bigger publisher?
Leonie Grundler (11:09)
Absolutely.
I started designing it October of 2022 and I had so much fun with it. My partner at the time was like, wow, I’ve never seen you so energized, so focused, you know, let’s turn this into product. Let’s turn this into a business. And then, you know, we explored, okay, should we self publish or should we find a publisher? Yeah. And when we realized that the typical designer makes less than 5 %
for each sale. We thought, wow, that seems really hard. I’ve put so much love on every game. I’d want to see more than just 5%. And so then we thought, okay, if we self-publish, what are the different routes? You know, and Kickstarter was just like so helpful, such an amazing opportunity. So I’m really glad I took that route because that has just really launched my career here in the board game industry and kind of justified why I want to make this my full-time career.
Jason Hsieh (12:04)
I see, I see, I see. What are some of the things that you have learned since you started the business? Either some challenges or something you didn’t expect that you can also share with our audience?
Leonie Grundler (12:15)
Yeah. my goodness. Definitely, I had no idea how expensive shipping is. I joined this business. It is pretty insanely expensive to ship board games. Amazon has definitely spoiled us with free shipping for Prime members. So that’s definitely big one.
how important it is to go and go to conventions in person. That was a huge learning. Every time I go to a convention, I meet new people, new doors are open for me, and it’s just so worth every dollar spent going to the convention. Whether or not I have a booth or just show up, I think that’s a big one. Just this industry is so people-focused and yeah. R eally really special as I’m sure you know.
Jason Hsieh (12:58)
I see. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. What are some of the conventions that you are going to this year?
Leonie Grundler (13:04)
Yeah, so I’m going for the first time to Origins where I’ll have a booth and then Gen Con as well. I’ll also have a booth there. And then Essen Spiel, I will again have a booth there as well. I’ll most likely attend PAX Unplugged, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll have a booth. So we’ll see.
Jason Hsieh (13:20)
I see, see. Okay, well that’s quite a bit of a show that you’re attending. Yeah.
Leonie Grundler (13:25)
Are you attending any of those?
Jason Hsieh (13:26)
I think I’ll be in a few of those you mentioned, either Gen Con or Origin myself as well. that’s definitely some of the very common one that most people go to within the board game community as well. And as far as you mentioned about networking and also
like talking to other fellow entrepreneurs and designers in the industry. What are some of the things that you have learned from other entrepreneurs in the industry that you can also share with us?
Leonie Grundler (13:54)
Yeah. my goodness. I’m super grateful to Dusty and Amy from Dux Sominium Games. launched Botany on Kickstarter and then La Fleur and Artistry. and they’ve just been so helpful. as someone who had never gone through all this before.
having to learn about VAT, you know, that and you know, all kinds of things from marketing to fulfillment to pricing. Yeah, it’s amazing that, you know, and I’ve reached out to lots of folks, met lots of different folks. And, you even though we could be considered competitors, I’ve never felt that way with any other publishers. I’ve always felt like we’re friends first. And I once heard the quote, you know, a rising tide lifts all ships and that’s the general attitude in the industry which is really special.
Jason Hsieh (14:37)
Yeah.
For sure, think that’s also that tied to the mission of the podcast is to share what is working and not working as an industry so we can all learn from each other and also tackle some of the bigger problems together like the tarrifs you mentioned earlier that everyone faced. We all kind of trying to figure out what to do, how to move it forward as well. I think you have creating, you know, there’s the second game, how when you’re approaching designing and manufacturing the second game.
Do you, like, how do you do it differently compared to the first game?
Leonie Grundler (15:10)
So I’m very grateful that Faekin is just a card game. And because I have like a tight timeline, I really want to bring Faekin to the different conventions I have this year. I decided that I want to manufacture in the US. I’m just so grateful that that’s possible. I don’t foresee that being possible for Biome considering all the complex components.
You know, inserts, the nests, the wooden pieces. So, fake in, I’ll be producing in the US and then shipping, all that will be so much easier. So, I’m really relieved, especially considering the tariff situation.
Jason Hsieh (15:44)
Okay, okay. Yeah, so thank you for sharing that. Yeah, so if you have any good contact for the US manufacture maybe you can also share that with us after the show.
Leonie Grundler (15:54)
I can share it now to the… I was recommended by a friend, ⁓ Danielle Reynolds from Wise Wizard Games. She suggested Delano and Cartamundi. So those are the two big ones that I reached out to for quotes.
Jason Hsieh (16:08)
really? Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, you can share the website with us. We can put that in the show notes as well. Okay, can you kind of, what is your vision going forward for the company?
Leonie Grundler (16:20)
Yeah. So going forward, I feel so grateful that things worked out with Biome the way they did. And now other game creators have been reaching out to me, Hey, will you publish my game for me? So that’s how it with Faekin. A friend of mine had started to design this and said, Leonie, I’m looking for a publisher. you know, he was also talking to some other well-known publishers and
So I was like, well, maybe I could publish it. yeah. So I then joined on as publisher and also have been helping with game development. And I think that’s kind of my sweet spot right now where, you know, folks are bringing me games that I think are nearly there. And then I love working on them, you know, developing the game with, with the creator and then publishing them. I have a few kind of in the pipeline.
And then, but I also want to focus on, you know, biome expansions and I have a few more game ideas that I’d like to work on soon too. But for now, it looks like I’ll be doing mostly, yeah, biome, biome expansions, and then some games that other creators have brought to me.
Jason Hsieh (17:22)
I see, okay, that seems to be a good strategy to really continue expanding your product selections and your catalog as well. what are some of the strategy besides Kickstarter that has been working well for you and the game that you represent?
Leonie Grundler (17:36)
Yeah, I think so I’m very curious to see, you know, with the tariffs and margins becoming a lot slimmer, I’m definitely going to have to shift, you know, distribution, your typical distributor wants 60 to 67 % off MSRP. And so one, I see a lot more of my focus shifting towards international.
partners, you know, where, where I’m hopefully safe from, from the tariffs. And then also more direct, you know, B2C sales. I’m definitely excited to explore more ads on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, to see, to see how that goes in addition to, you know, Google ads and things like that. So I’ll probably be testing those different channels in the next few months.
Jason Hsieh (18:22)
I see. And I think last time when we spoke before the interview, you’re talking about that you’re considering your options with your Amazon channel as well.
Leonie Grundler (18:31)
Right. Yeah. So right now my distributor is handling that for me and more and more folks are telling me, you you should probably take it back. it’s, yeah, it’s tricky because if I had a bigger team, maybe, but right now it’s just me and, know, as, you know, fulfillment by Amazon, all these things are, can be quite intense and things changing at Amazon all the time. So,
Jason Hsieh (18:41)
Take it back.
Leonie Grundler (19:00)
At that time, I was definitely very happy to hand over the reins for Amazon sales. ⁓ But we’ll see if, especially with the tariffs, that changes things.
Jason Hsieh (19:08)
I see. Okay. Thank you for sharing that. And as we’re wrapping up today’s interview, if you have to just one piece of advice with someone that’s getting started within the toys and game industry, what would that be?
Leonie Grundler (19:21)
I would say really focus on creating something that you love. Other friends have pitched me ideas for games and I didn’t really connect with the theme or the mission of the game. So many
they thought Biome was successful because they could see the love and the passion that I had for building that product. And so I think that’s kind of what I want take in moving forward is to really focus on products that I love. And it also just makes your job so much easier and more exciting when you get to to build things that you love and are passionate about. So, yeah, I’d say, you know, stick true to what you think is special and
I’d say give it your all and can only imagine that things will shape up really well for you.
Jason Hsieh (20:11)
I see. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And where can people find you online?
Leonie Grundler (20:15)
so I have an Instagram, lioness.games, or you can also find me on Instagram at biomeboardgame. I believe I have a TikTok for lioness games as well. And then my website is biomethegame.com. And I have a YouTube channel as well, also lioness games.
Jason Hsieh (20:33)
I see. OK, thank you so much. We’ll make sure we include some of that in the show notes. And thank you again for being on our show today and sharing your experiences within the industry and some of your knowledge that you have gained so far.
Leonie Grundler (20:45)
Thank you so much for having me. Such a pleasure chatting with you today.
Jason Hsieh (20:48)
And thank you for our listener for tuning into this episode of Toy Business Unboxed podcast. We hope you have enjoyed the conversation and find it insightful and inspiring. If you like what you have heard, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you never miss an episode. We really appreciate your support and would love it if you can leave us a review and share the podcast with your friend and colleague. For more resource tips and the latest update in the toy’s end game industry, visit our website at toy-launch.com. Join the conversation and connect with us on social media.
using #toybusinessunboxed. We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes. Until next time, keep innovating, keep creating, keep bringing joy to toys. This is Jason Hsieh signing off on the Toy Business Unboxed podcast. We’ll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much, everyone.