Board, Heirloom and Flow Bet Millions on Offline Connection
Repeat founders are betting on offline connection, from Board’s $35 million game table to Heirloom schools, as loneliness affects one in six worldwide.
Summary
Brynn Putnam, who sold Mirror to Lululemon for $500 million less than three years after launching it, has raised $35 million for three year old Board. Its 24-inch touchscreen recognizes gestures and physical pieces, letting children and grandparents play without mastering controllers, an idea shaped by Putnam’s blended household growing from three people to seven. Tristan Walker, who sold Walker & Company Brands to Procter & Gamble after five years for a reported $20 million to $40 million, founded Heirloom Craft 11 months ago to acquire fine-craft schools, beginning with a San Francisco leatherworking school established by Hermès’s first American artisan-ambassador. Walker also runs Collaborative Holdings, created from Collaborative Fund.
Walker sees apprenticeships in leatherworking, watchmaking and fragrance design as an answer to AI displacing knowledge work and 50 years of weakened American craft training. Roughly half of Gen Z and Gen Alpha reportedly reject four-year degrees, while young tech workers seeking a phones-down creative outlet fill more than half of Heirloom’s first location. In June 2025, the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Connection classified loneliness as a global health challenge affecting one in six people and linked to about 870,000 annual deaths. A 2026 Harris Poll sponsored by Marriott Bonvoy found two-thirds of Americans prioritize experiences over possessions, while the same share considers retail shopping generic.
Andy Dunn’s five year old Pie has evolved from friend matching and event discovery into a social life operating system, with Community Homes for recurring groups, and raised $24 million. Audrey Gelman’s 11-room Six Bells Countryside Inn, funded with roughly $3.8 million, runs monthly murder-mystery dinners that encourage strangers to socialize, following the Wing’s pandemic collapse amid staff-equity accusations. Adam Neumann’s community-focused housing venture Flow has raised more than $450 million, largely from Andreessen Horowitz. Heirloom has not disclosed funding. Whether offline togetherness becomes a major investment category remains unclear because physical gatherings scale less efficiently than software, with customer demand likely clearer within one or two years.
Positives
- $35 million in funding gives Board capital to develop shared touchscreen games for players with different ages and abilities.
- More than half of Heirloom’s first location is occupied by young tech workers seeking a phones-down creative outlet.
- Two-thirds of Americans are prioritizing experiences such as travel over material purchases in 2026.
- $24 million raised by Pie supports permanent Community Homes for run clubs, watch parties and other recurring groups.
- More than $450 million raised by Flow shows substantial investor appetite for housing designed around community.
Risks & concerns
- One in six people worldwide experiences loneliness, which is linked to roughly 870,000 deaths annually.
- Physical gatherings cannot scale as efficiently as software, limiting the venture economics of offline connection businesses.
- The Wing folded during the pandemic amid accusations that it treated its staff inequitably, creating reputational baggage for Audrey Gelman.
- Heirloom has not disclosed funding, leaving limited visibility into its financial resources 11 months after founding.
- Customer demand remains unproven, and whether togetherness becomes a sizable investment category may take another one or two years to establish.