We recently connected with Dan Sallai and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

At PlayWise, we keep things intentionally lean and personal. We’re a team of just two co-founders who bring complementary strengths to the table – Dan handles our marketing strategy while Máté brings deep understanding of our audience and educational content. We’ve chosen not to outsource or bring in external management, as the authenticity of our voice and direct connection with our community are central to what makes PlayWise special. This hands-on approach by both founders ensures that every aspect of our business reflects our shared vision for making learning engaging through play.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

PlayWise began as a meeting of two parallel paths in education. Máté and I met while pursuing our Master’s degrees in Education, but our careers initially took different routes. Máté dedicated himself to working with underprivileged children as a professional educator, developing innovative approaches to engage students through board games. His expertise lies specifically in integrating board games and board game education into learning environments, pioneering methodologies that transform traditional educational practices. Meanwhile, I built my expertise in digital marketing, learning how to effectively connect valuable content with the audiences who need it most.
Our company emerged from a shared realization: the teaching methodologies Máté had developed, particularly around using board games as educational tools, deserved a broader audience than just his immediate community. What sets PlayWise apart is this authentic foundation – our educational resources aren’t created by marketers who decided to enter education; they’re built on years of real classroom experience and refined through direct work with children facing genuine learning challenges.
We specialize in creating accessible educational resources that help parents, teachers and after-school program leaders use the natural engagement of games to develop critical skills in children. Our flagship products focus on fostering literacy, mathematical thinking, and social-emotional skills through carefully selected games and guided activities.
What we’re most proud of is seeing our work transcend language and cultural barriers. What began as resources in our native languages now reaches educators and parents internationally. There’s something profoundly meaningful about receiving messages from parents in countries we’ve never visited, telling us how our approach has transformed their child’s relationship with reading or mathematics.
For anyone discovering PlayWise, we want you to know that every resource we create stems from actual educational practice. We believe that learning should be joyful, that games can be powerful teachers, and that with the right approach, every child can develop a love of learning. Our digital strategy isn’t just about building a business – it’s our vessel for making positive change in education and parenting practices worldwide.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the most valuable lessons I had to unlearn came from the merging of our different professional backgrounds when forming PlayWise.
For me, coming from a high-performance business environment, I initially approached our educational content with the metrics-driven mindset I’d developed throughout my career. I expected the educator and board gaming communities to operate with the same competitive dynamics I was accustomed to. What I discovered instead was a surprisingly collaborative ecosystem built on genuine passion and care – communities where sharing resources and lifting each other up was the norm rather than the exception.
Meanwhile, Máté faced the opposite challenge. As an educator who had spent years developing impactful methodologies without monetization in mind, he needed to unlearn the hesitation around turning his expertise into marketable products. There was an initial discomfort with the idea that educational value and business sustainability could coexist without compromising integrity.
The story of PlayWise is really about these two worlds coming together and creating something neither of us could have built alone. I’ve had to unlearn my purely competitive business mindset and embrace the authentic, supportive nature of the communities we serve. This shift wasn’t just philosophical – it fundamentally changed how we develop products, interact with our audience, and measure success.
What we are creating together tries to exist in a sort of a middle ground that respects both the heart of education and the practicalities of sustainable business. This unlearning process continues to shape everything we do, reminding us that the most valuable innovations often happen when different worlds collide.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe our reputation within the educational gaming market stems primarily from authenticity and lived experience. Before PlayWise expanded internationally, Máté was deeply embedded in local board gaming and educational communities, developing methodologies through direct work with students and educators. This wasn’t theoretical knowledge – it was practical expertise refined in real classrooms and after-school programs.

When we began sharing these approaches more widely, that authentic foundation came through clearly in our content. Even though Máté wasn’t internationally known when we started, his ideas resonated because they were born from genuine educational challenges and tested solutions, not created to fit market demands.

Our social media content and educational resources reflect this authenticity. We don’t just recommend games or activities – we explain the pedagogical thinking behind them, share real implementation stories, and acknowledge the complexities educators and parents face. This transparency builds trust, as our audience can see that our recommendations come from actual experience rather than abstract theory.

What’s particularly gratifying is how this approach transcends language and cultural barriers. The core principles of engagement through play are universal, and educators worldwide recognize content that comes from genuine classroom experience versus content created primarily for marketing purposes.

Ultimately, I think our reputation has grown because we prioritize educational value over quick growth. We’re educators first, business owners second – and our market seems to appreciate that distinction.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://playwise.education
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playwise.education
• Twitter: https://x.com/playwise_edu