Today, Roll20, an all-in-one solution for organizing and playing tabletop games online, welcomed Ankit Lal into a new role as CEO of the virtual tabletop company. Co-founder & outgoing CEO Nolan T. Jones will continue to serve in an advisory capacity on the company’s board.
“When Richard, Riley and I launched the Roll20 Kickstarter in 2012, we shared a dream of creating a free system for storytelling and camaraderie for every RPG player in the world,” said Nolan T. Jones, co-founder of Roll20. “Ten years later, we’ve grown from three co-founders to 59 employees, and from 1,580 backers to a community of 10 million users. We’re also incredibly proud that so many publishers and artists have trusted Roll20 with their creations on our Marketplace, and very grateful that so many people have chosen to play their games with us.”
New CEO Ankit Lal brings years of experience leading strategy, product, analytics, and marketing teams across several industries, most recently at Google and ClassPass. During his time at ClassPass, Lal made accessibility and education his main focus, increasing the speed of product development and creating a digital workout tool that was vital for 2020 users in lockdown. Previously, Lal led strategy and product development for Google on both the Gsuite for Education as well as on Google Workspace teams.
- Under Lal’s guidance, Roll20 is doubling down on product improvements this year, with a focus on delivering more user-friendly updates and refinements to Roll20 players who use the platform both digitally, on mobile, and in person. Planned improvements include:
New free GM Hub microsite within Roll20, collecting and linking out to the best GM resources available across the internet, including numerous system-agnostic tools that are useful for tabletop players across the world. - Top-requested improvements from users to the VTT including UI reworks and new features for GMs
- Notable updates to the performance and speed of the website for both players and GMs – encompassing everything from the compendium to the virtual tabletop
- Continued development and refinement of the recently launched mobile app
- Significant updates to onboarding new games and artwork to the Marketplace for publishers and artists
“I’ve watched Nolan lead this company from a small community Kickstarter into a behemoth. He’s built Roll20 into a staple of the tabletop roleplaying community,” said Ankit Lal, CEO of Roll20. “I’ve been following and advising the company for a long time as both a board member, a tabletop player and a fan. I can’t wait to bring more features, updates and games to our players. We’ve got a lot of exciting things in the works, and the future is bright!”
