Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chad Leuci. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Chad thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
It started back in 2021. I was working on the getting the first few glimpses of TezalCo Studios off the ground. In my spare time I was traveling the Southeast USA attending Comic-Cons, I was an avid cosplayer. In my travels I took note of the prevalence of “nerd culture” in tons of small communities, yet this representation was completely lacking in the Wiregrass.
If you spoke of “gaming” in the Wiregrass people assumed you meant table-top. All of conventions were old shows like Fanaticon which was ran by a table-top store. I wanted to change this, I wanted us anime and video game enjoyers to finally have a place to call our own in this community, and with the closure of Fanatics in 2019 the entire nerd community was left separated. I seek to change this, to act as a beacon for our community and bring people together, under the name of pop culture. A place where people feel represented.
As an indie game studio I believed I could bring a unique approach to conventions in the area. So in October of 2022 I began working on Tezal-Con. I had only 3-4 months to not only plan, but advertise and organize the entire event. If not for the help of my business partners I wouldn’t have been able to do this, shoutout to Ash West.
I put everything I had into, all my time, energy and money, and made back on my result twofold. I’m incredibly happy I choose to do this and look forward to doing it again next year.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
TezalCo. Studios is an entertainment software company that mainly focuses on video games. We started off as a game server host, for games like Team Fortress 2, 7 Days to Die, Gang Garrison 2 and more. But we’ve moved away from that and now focus on making our own games. Over the last two years we’ve been working on making PC and Mobile games, with us soon hoping to break into VR and AR.
We also just announced our first big game project, Mandela Syndrome. A “horror puzzle game about keeping the world from being forgotten, one box at a time. Control multiple switchboards, solve puzzle minigames and survive the horrors of this strange Association.”
Here the link to the announcement trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeGgH25d5zA
Our next show, Tezal-Con 2024, March 8-10th in Daleville, Alabama.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I started my company while I was going through college for my degree in Computer Science. As such I was already short on cash, but was determined to get things rolling. I funded us the first year by working as a Laborer on a construction site. Soon though I was able to put my degree to use and transferred myself to an office job. Less manual labor, but more stress, which was honestly worse for trying to go home and run a business.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Tezal-Con has been a huge asset to us, something we’re only just beginning to see the fruits of. People in our area now know the name of “Tezal”, and saying we’re involved with Tezal-Con has started to create opportunities for us in places we didn’t expect.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tezalcon.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tezal_con/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Tezal-Con/100086782479045/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TezalCon
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-ESPOw73vHvqTZqEdtBVQ
- Other: Discord: https://discord.gg/RQjfZZQ878
Image Credits
©2023 by TezalCo. Studios LLC