All great business tales begin with a spark — sometimes from a board room, sometimes from a moment of epiphany. But the story of GameDay began somewhere in a much more personal way: a living room, a tight-knit family, and a common appreciation of sport. The journey began as a casual, weekend multi-sport tournament among their immediate group snowballed rapidly into a day full of fun, competition, and bonding. That’s the point at which it all clicked: this could be something more!

GameDay Events isn’t just another startup adding events to corporate calendars. It’s a heartbeat, a movement, a way to reconnect adults with the thrill of play.  Amidst a world where “catch up” has come to mean drinks or mindless scrolling, GameDay is rewriting the trend by replacing screens with scoreboards, and awkward ice-breakers with sweaty high-fives.

Trio (Natasha Parikh Agrawal, her brother Vivan Parikh, and her husband Shubham Agrawal) of passionate individuals founded this unique venture in October 2023. GameDay is building an all-new kind of community. One that thrives on healthy competition, real connection, and endorphin-fueled fun. And their entrepreneur journey is one of passion, purpose, and family.

The Inception Factors: Love for Sport & Family 

There is no usual “co-founder narrative” here. Natasha, Vivan, and Shubham didn’t have to unite because they were already family. Natasha and Vivan are siblings; Shubham is the husband of Natasha. So, what gives their partnership strength isn’t only their relationship, but the way their individual skill sets blend into something cohesive and whole. 

Vivan, with Computer Applications studies and a quick pivot into software development, is the operations powerhouse. If something is moving at GameDay, he’s probably the force driving it. Natasha, a Johns Hopkins graduate in biotech with past experience in U.S. clinical trials, keeps the creative spark. She is developing immersive experience events, fueling marketing, and engaging the community. Shubham, textile business and engineering student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, contributes strategic brawn to planning the future and business vision. 

Together, they are not only running a business. They embody the GameDay culture. And they don’t only host events — they create experiences that people won’t stop raving about.

How a Weekend Tournament Sparked the GameDay Startup?

GameDay’s official inception started with a modest beginning: a friendly cricket competition among friends. No elaborate banners, no huge stages. Just cricket, noise, competition, and bonding. But the vibe was palpably charged. That single event, meant only for fun, turned into a red-hot success with folks asking for the next one. 

Spurred by the reaction and their life-long love for games, Natasha and Shubham partnered with Vivan and created the company GameDay. The three decided from then onward to take their enthusiasm for game planning and people bonding and use it to make a difference at full scale. 

In doing so, their first ever milestone was of hosting a game night experience for the Gujarat Giants themselves — the women’s IPL team. But for them, it was more than their first major gig, their maiden off-city experience, and full-circle moment: their love for sports now had space on a professional platform. “It was that quintessential Gujju energy meets national stage moment,” notes Natasha. 

Solving a Real Problem with Play 

GameDay is addressing something that nobody even knows is a problem. The problem is the absence of authentic, fun ways to connect in today’s hyper-stimulation environment. According to the founders, deep connections are not made over coffee, but over side-court shouts, trivia jabs, and a collective competitive edge. 

They’re not just for the casual gamer, either. Their carefully designed formats serve the everyday player as much as the competitive player, meaning everyone is leveling and having a blast. 

For businesses, GameDay is solving the greatest challenge for HR today: employee engagement. End the days of pizza parties and cringeworthy Zoom meetings. Imagine your team tackling dog-and-the-bone, competing in a trivia battle, or rallying on a pickleball court. GameDay has developed a sporty take on team bonding that works and puts employees beaming with smiles.

Events That Keep Everyone Coming Back to GameDay

GameDay won’t do “basic.” Here’s what they’re famous for: 

• Curated Sports Tournaments: Cricket and pickleball apart, each of the tournaments features gully games like kho-kho and dog-and-the-bone with structured competition, moment-to-moment excitement, and not a dull moment anywhere. 
• Live fantasy auctions: Imagine the IPL feeling but with your friends. Real paddles, actual bidding, actual drama. 
• Game Nights & Trivia Battles: Bollywood-themed buzzer rounds, offbeat games, and laughs aplenty to make your cheeks sore. 
• Wedding Shenanigans: Ever witnessed a Bride vs. Groom cricket match? GameDay takes pre-weddings and turns them into full-fledged showdowns with laughter, rivalries, and memories that’ll last a lifetime. 

Each experience isn’t about playing; it’s about feeling. Feeling the vibe. Feeling in sync. Feeling alive. 

GameDay: More Than Just An Event Company. 

The true differentiator for GameDay is that they’re not in for the “one and done” jobs. Their vision is long-term. It is to create a tribe that opts for movement rather than monotony, for adrenaline rather than apathy, and for community rather than isolation. Their events are all about providing a space in which individuals of all ages, ability levels, and backgrounds unite. 

You don’t even have to be a competitive athlete. All you do is show up. They’ve created a welcoming, energetic, endorphin-happy community and it’s expanding. As Vivan puts it, “We’re creating something where ‘playing together’ is the new networking.” Moreover, the trio’s vision is not just limited to a particular locality. It is much broader i.e., going national. Basing themselves from Gujarat, they’re looking to expand into more metropolitan regions, enter new markets, and create a technology platform to match the players. The list also includes monitoring the performance, and creating a year-round sports calendar. And this young business has just begun. 

From schools to startups, from the corporate to the campus, they’re targeting all the sites where play has been lost. Because when you play with heart, build with soul, and lead with purpose, you’re not just starting a startup. You’re building a movement. 

Learnings from GameDay Events

GameDay’s experience, just a year in, has already provided a wealth of good lessons and especially for entrepreneurs hoping to create their own companies. From being a family business to dealing with high-stakes events and being able to say no to enticing ideas (due to bandwidth!), their takeaways are raw, battle-hardened, and authentic. Here are a few important takeaways: 

• Do what you love: The GameDay trio didn’t start to create a business, they started to stage a game night with friends. First came passion, then business.
• Trusting your team: Family members come with challenges of their own, but with unparalleled trust. They didn’t take time to “align” because they were already aligned through blood, love, and purpose. 
• People, not planning, at the forefront: Every single event that they host is people-centered, rather than perfect. Whether it’s a game of cricket or trivia nights, the experience is the focus. 
• Say no in order to grow: Saying no to events in the early months stung but it helped them learn to build capacity, build their team, and be more efficient. 

And the most significant and profound lesson of all is perhaps from Vivan, who imparted a quote that still directs him through the unpredictabilities of entrepreneurship: “I won’t run away, I don’t back down from my word! That is my nindō: my ninja way!” — Naruto. It is a line from a child’s anime (and indeed is), but for Vivan, it represents resilience, dedication, and keeping roots in purpose. And indeed, that is the energy that fuels GameDay as a fearless, never-say-die attitude with a grin. 

Conclusion

 
GameDay Events is a spark and a lot more than a startup. It is not simply hosting games — they’re constructing something more. It’s a community-fueled startup driven by competition and human connection. It’s a brand that embodies living in the moment, being fun, and above all, being human. 

Amongst Gujarat’s emerging entrepreneurship stories in India, GameDay is different. It is not less for what they do, but rather for the manner in which way they do it. With warmth. With heart. And with the conviction that people coming together for a game has the power to do more than just transform a weekend, it has the power to create culture. 

As others tie up their kicks and become part of the movement, the story of GameDay is evidence that occasionally, just one spark will set off a legacy. A moment of entertainment to ignite a business. A family to ignite a phenomenon.

Keep visit Gujpreneur for more such inspiring stories!