Ep.30 / Megan Trottier, Founder Oh My Mahjong
Modernizing an Ancient Game:
What happens when you mix an ancient Chinese tile game with high-end design, a relentless wholesale strategy, and a zero-outside-capital mentality? You get Oh My Mahjong (OMM).
In this episode of Professional Jealousy, host Natasha Jakubowski chats with OMM founder and CEO Megan Trottier to dissect how she scaled a pandemic-era creative outlet out of her garage into a staggering $40 million business in 2025. Megan opens up about the power of the business pivot, using grass roots community building and education as a marketing vehicle, and navigating the roller coaster of rapid growth alongside her husband.
Key Themes
The Power of the Business Pivot: Megan emphasizes that flexibility is a non-negotiable trait for entrepreneurs. She shares the story of her "Mahjong Pool Mat"—a product that completely flopped two years ago but became an overnight sell-out success in January 2026 once the consumer market matured.
Education-Led Marketing & Grassroots Scale: Instead of relying strictly on direct-to-consumer digital ads, OMM scaled by targeting wholesale boutiques. When store owners didn't know how to sell the product, OMM empowered independent Mahjong instructors as brand ambassadors to host lessons, creating a highly infectious hyper-local flywheel effect.
Turning a Product into a Collectible Lifestyle: Moving far beyond functional game sets, OMM positioned its colorful, "grand millennial southern vibe" products as home decor statement pieces and seasonal collectibles.
Radical Bootstrapping and Family Collaboration: OMM has never raised a single dollar of outside capital. Megan shares what it's really like to fully bootstrap a company and later hire her husband, Kevin, to handle operational structures and legal backend operations.
Megan is professionally jealous of Spanx founder Sara Blakely because of her remarkable resilience, positive outlook, and powerful mentality surrounding failure. She was deeply inspired by how Blakely’s father celebrated failure by asking his children what they tried and failed at each week—a growth mindset that Megan has since adopted and passed down to her own kids. Ultimately, Megan respects how Blakely maintained her conviction, rose above being told "no" countless times, and built an incredible brand from the ground up.
Timestamps
[00:01] – Introduction to the Professional Jealousy podcast and guest Megan Trottier.
[01:01] – The OMM elevator pitch: A brief history of Mahjong and modernizing traditional imagery.
[03:06] – Digital detox and human connection: Why Mahjong exploded into a cultural phenomenon post-COVID.
[05:50] – The Snowball Effect: Transitioning from a pandemic garage art project to custom acrylic tile sets.
[08:45] – Hitting $40M in 2025: Staying agile and acting fast.
[09:40] – Case Study: The Mahjong Pool Mat and learning when to step back—and step back in.
[14:10] – The Ambassador Flywheel: Activating independent teachers to unlock the wholesale market.
[18:26] – Changing the decor: Why consumers treat Mahjong sets like luxury handbags.
[22:29] – Honoring Chinese tradition through a "color explosion" design philosophy.
[27:56] – Going All-In: The dynamics of running a fully bootstrapped business with your spouse.
[34:58] – Dealing with imposter syndrome and the critical asset of making fast, direct choices.
[41:41] – Quick-fire round: Leadership superpowers, favorite plays, and Megan's professional jealousy of Spanx founder Sara Blakely.
Check out https: https://ohmymahjong.com/
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