By: Cynthia Munrayos
Intro to Dub This! and Desireé’s Story
Desireé Vaughn, Startup Founder, CEO of Dream Ultra Big LLC and the innovative drive behind the card game, Dub This!, joined our GROW Winter Cohort earlier this year. She brought her idea to us in October 2023, and we’re thrilled to see her visions come to life.
Dub This! is a musical card game that lets you mix and match any song with the given phrase on your card. Having started in education, Vaughn mentions “music has always been my thing growing up. I played instruments, sang, and when the pandemic hit, I wanted to try something new.”
As a result, she decided to turn her love of music into a new business. Feeling uncertain about where to begin, Desiree sought inspiration by connecting with different communities and mentors, including Kenyatta Forbes, and exploring her card game, Trading Races. In addition, Vaughn also participated in the Horizon Fellowship by the Game Manufacturing Association, and she successfully launched Dub This! through a Kickstarter campaign. She also connected with Marisa Nieves, our Innovation Studio MA Program Director at the Roxbury Innovation Center as she began to explore more coworking spaces.
New opportunities and paths for Desiree’s venture include adapting to a new environment since she has moved to Pennsylvania. She eventually plans on expanding her card game with add-ons and subjects for players to continue enjoying the game. In the meantime, she is focused on adapting to her new environment and hopes to connect with other startup founders and music communities to continue from where she left off.
How GROW Influenced Desireé’s Journey
“The various perspectives of the GROW instructors who showed up to facilitate the different topics during the course of discussion was very helpful,” said Vaughn. “The wealth and diversity of information shared, along with the clear processes and steps they provided, were invaluable to me, since I hadn’t received that information before.”
GROW explores topics related to business status, goal setting, financial status and metrics, operations, marketing strategy, pitching, and resource implementation. To join GROW and support early business growth, a company must be operational for at least one year after registration. Benefits from this class include opportunities to build a network of connections, receiving mentorship, generating new customers, and increasing sales.
To learn more about Dub This! And Desireé’s journey, follow their instagram page HERE or webpage HERE.
