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The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

438: How Nick Mowbray Built ZURU into a Multibillion-Dollar Toy Company

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mowbray is the co-founder of ZURU Toy Co., ZURU Edge, ZURU Tech, and Rhodes Pet Science. In 2018, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year in his home country, New Zealand, and he’s listed in the World Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He and his siblings, co-founders Mat and Anna, are worth more than $3 billion, while the company revenue was north of $2 billion AUD in 2022. Despite their success, the siblings didn’t go into the toy business with a deep knowledge of business or manufacturing. In fact, they didn’t even know much about toys. They just had one hot air balloon model, a lot of hustle, and a willingness to learn from their mistakes. Listen to Nathan and Nick discuss: How a childhood hot air balloon model inspired the business Borrowing $20K from his parents to relocate to Hong Kong The growing pains of the early days and learning through failure  Their first toy megahits, Robo Fish and Bunch O Balloons Running a lean business using automation and no inventory The company’s 2% improvement philosophy  The brainstrust business practice  Working alongside his siblings And much more scrappy business growth advice... Who do you want to see next on the podcast? Comment and let us know! And don't forget to leave us a 5-star review if you loved this episode. Wait, there's more… If you enjoy the Foundr podcast, check out our free trainings. Get exclusive, actionable advice from some of the world's best entrepreneurs.  Speak with our friendly course experts to get clarity on the next steps for your idea, business or career. You will get tailored insights from results achieved by our proven practitioners as well as thousands of students. Book a call now...  For more Foundr content, follow us on your favorite platform:  Foundr.com Instagram YouTube Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Magazine

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey Founder, fan, before we dive into another incredible conversation, I want to share something

0:05.3

really special with you. Whether you're just joining us or you've been following us since the

0:09.6

beginning, you've been a critical part of our community working to change entrepreneurial

0:14.0

education. I started Founder almost a decade ago with the mission to provide entrepreneurs

0:19.8

access to the world's greatest business

0:22.2

leaders. Our goal was to break down barriers to entrepreneurial education and that's taking

0:27.4

us on a journey from Founder magazine to this podcast and beyond and today marks the next step

0:33.5

in that journey, Founder Plus. I'm proud to introduce you to Founder Plus, which is an all-access

0:39.7

pass to each of our online courses and programs and their proven frameworks for success.

0:45.9

It puts every strategy we've compiled from world-class instructors at your fingertips while connecting

0:51.9

you to a global network of like-minded entrepreneurs.

0:55.9

Founder Plus will take your business to the next level for today and tomorrow.

1:00.5

So whether you've just joined our family or you've watched us grow from humble beginnings,

1:05.3

we're really thrilled to have you join us in this exciting new phase of making the founder brand

1:10.8

and this company

1:11.6

the world's best entrepreneurial community to launch and grow your business.

1:16.1

So finally, before we get into today's episode, I'm inviting you to come back,

1:21.2

check out Founder Plus and go to founder.com forward slash membership.

1:26.8

I'm really excited, guys. This is an incredible new

1:29.8

evolution of entrepreneurial education and our mission is really to get as many of these founders

1:36.1

that we interview to teach and also give back on the founder plus platform and really go more

1:42.0

in depth with the knowledge and the experiences and the lessons

...

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