DJpoop t1_j13ym6t wrote on December 21, 2022 at 2:30 PM

Big fan from twitter. How did you get into the toy game and think of the idea for Brain flakes?

SmellMyChocha OP t1_j13zss7 wrote on December 21, 2022 at 2:39 PM

Got fired for writing fan fiction about the executives at the company I was working for
Realized that I wasn't going to do well in corporate America, so I decided to become an entrepreneur
The first idea I had was to take a product that was really popular in China, jianzi, and sell it in the US. I thought I'd be a billionaire in a year. That product was a failure.
Other products after it succeeded which created a nice little business.
One day I was on Taobao, which is China's biggest e-commerce marketplace and I realized that I could sort all the products by their sales. I then thought that I could identify the products which sold very well in China, but not in the US for potential launches in the USA. Interlocking plastic discs were one of those products.
Interlocking plastic discs sold okay in the US under a bunch of names, but like 100x better in China and I couldn't figure out why, so I decided to try. I came up with a good name: BRAIN FLAKES® and good packaging and just launched.
They launched at Toy Fair 2014 and were a failure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnOO94NVAAU (possibly because everyone knew that interlocking plastic discs had been around and there was no novelty to them besides our name and packaging)
I said "fuck it" and launched them on Amazon and they were an instant success!
Over time I and my growing team would read reviews and constantly improve the product. We've got all this amazing educational content, some of which is free on our website brainflakes.com (of course it comes in the booklet too)
Very importantly after continuously trying to improve the product, we got a patent of which I am VERY PROUD! Our discs connect better than everyone else's because of this.
Our goal is to be the number #1 building toy brand in the world and I increasingly think it's possible.