Carlton Calvin: Razor. The wild rise, collapse, and reinvention of a mobile toy empire.
Podcast: How I Built This with Guy RazPublished On: Mon Sep 08 2025
Description: 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:Why most “overnight successes” collapse as quickly as they riseThe power of partnerships– and trust– in scaling quicklyHow to think like your customer (in Carlton’s case, a 10-year-old boy)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→ @howibuiltthisX → @HowIBuiltThisFacebook→ How I Built ThisFollow Guy Raz:Instagram→ @guy.razX → @guyrazSubstack→ guyraz.substack.comWebsite→ guyraz.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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