At this point, I had seen enough of what the industry looked like that I understood how the jump needed to be made and I didn't feel like I was getting that much out of art school anymore.

I just didn't feel like I wanted to pay $20,000 a semester for a bunch of general ed classes so that I could get a certificate, that I was increasingly becoming more aware didn't matter to people who are going to hire me. Wouldn't I just be better off taking that money and either investing it in a business, in a

401k, in literally anything that isn't a depreciating asset. The Welcome to the future podcast, a show that explores the interesting overlap between design, marketing, and business. I'm Greg Gunn.

When you hear about someone becoming an overnight success, rarely did it happen overnight.

But our guest today is kind of the exception.

Kind of. You see, she's the founder of Dispelled Dice, a luxury dice-making business

that was kick-started into existence.

Over the course of her 30-day campaign, she raised over two million dollars through

Kickstarter, all for her beautiful and bespoke dice.

And that first $1 million happened on day one.

Now, if your jaw isn't already on the floor,

then rewind and re-listen to what I just said,

because that is unheard of.

But the path leading up to that fateful launch wasn't a walk in the park.

In fact, the same morning she pulled in $1 million from Kickstarter was the same morning her bank called to tell

her that she had overdrawn her account. In this two-part episode, our guest and former

student of Chris's walks us through the windy bump-ridden road she took to

build the incredible business that she has today. In part one, we get to know the person behind

the dice. How she went from feeling unfulfilled, unhappy, and even dropping out of college to finding

her calling through a friendly game of Dungeons and Dragons. Are you excited to listen to this one yet? I know I am.

Please enjoy part one of our conversation with Karen Wang.

Karen, thanks for doing this. I know it's a little bit of a chase to get you to finally do this and I truly appreciate everything that you're doing to be able to do

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