In the summer of 2000, Razor scooters were everywhere—on sidewalks, in schools, even in Silicon Valley offices. At the center of it all was Carlton Calvin, an ex-lawyer turned toy mogul who had already ridden—and crashed—multiple crazes, from Pogs to yo-yos.Carlton knew how to spot what kids wanted before the world caught on. But when Razor went from selling a million scooters a month to zero almost overnight, his business teetered on collapse.This is a story about timing, obsession and instinct: knowing kids would snap up Slammers with scorpions inside, seeing the potential of a sleek new scooter from Taiwan, and learning how to turn a craze into a lasting global brand.In this episode, you’ll learn:<ul><li>Why most “overnight successes” collapse as quickly as they rise</li><li>The power of partnerships– and trust– in scaling quickly</li><li>How to think like your customer (in Carlton’s case, a 10-year-old boy)</li></ul>This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our audio engineers were Patrick Murray and Maggie Luthar.Follow How I Built This:Instagram→<a href="https://www.instagram.com/howibuiltthis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @howibuiltthis</a>X →<a href="https://x.com/howibuiltthis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @HowIBuiltThis</a>Facebook→<a href="https://www.facebook.com/howibuiltthis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> How I Built This</a>Follow Guy Raz:Instagram→<a href="https://www.instagram.com/guy.raz/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @guy.raz</a>X →<a href="https://x.com/guyraz" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @guyraz</a>Substack→<a href="http://guyraz.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> guyraz.substack.com</a>Website→<a href="http://guyraz.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> guyraz.com</a>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

Carlton Calvin: Razor. The wild rise, collapse, and reinvention of a mobile toy empire.

How I Built This with Guy Raz

AI Chapters

AI Insights

Reviews