Why the entrepreneur behind PAW Patrol thinks young founders have an advantage

Most founders dream of building a loyal customer base. Ronnen Harary built one made up of preschoolers.

The co-founder of children’s toy and entertainment company Spin Master helped create global franchises including Bakugan, Air Hogs, and most notably PAW Patrol, an animated series about a group of rescue dogs who work together to protect their community.

Harary’s new book, No Experience Necessary, explores the lessons he’s learned in the decades since beginning Spin Master and his views on why youth can be an asset in an entrepreneur’s journey.

In a conversation with Founder Brew, Harary discusses when not knowing the rules can work in your favor and the rewards of creating a world beloved by a devoted audience.

This ‌interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Most founders dream of building a loyal customer base. You built one with toddlers and preschoolers. What is it like creating something that millions of children are obsessed with?

I kind of pinch myself all the time. I was at dinner two nights ago, and the waiter brought me over a note…In there was a woman who said to me, “You don’t know me, but I know that you are one of the creators of PAW Patrol. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my son’s life. He’s autistic, and it’s one of his favorite things to watch and engage with.” It was just so nice. I went searching for the lady in the restaurant, and I found her, and we chatted.

It’s very humbling and very rewarding at the same time that families and kids bring the characters into their life, and I would say it’s beyond all imagination.

PAW Patrol was actually born in the lowest point in our company history…For 16 years we made profits and we grew, and for years 17 and 18, we lost money two years straight. We had to recapitalize the business, and in that period when all this crazy turbulence was going on, we had to let go 35% of our workforce.

It was such an incredible lesson because when things are going great, you have a sense of hubris. You feel like everything you do is going to turn out great, but you don’t give the maximum attention and detail. But when things are not growing great, we have a saying, “Growth hides a multitude of sins.” When you’re not growing, all the sins get exposed.

Looking back, what did you not know that actually helped you build Spin Master?

There’s a lot to be said when you’re younger about the power of not knowing. We didn’t know how much people would be rooting for us when we were younger. We were always very hungry to ask people for advice and for help, but I didn’t realize until I got older how much people just love to help younger people. It’s just a way to give back. I’ll never forget the late [Hasbro CEO] Alan Hassenfeld—we called him when we were 25 years old, and he picked up the phone, gave us advice. He was like, “Welcome to the toy industry. We’re so happy to have you.” He didn’t see us as competition because he was like, “Oh, these are young guys, and they’re loving the toy industry, and this is an industry that I love, and this is good for the industry if there’s more innovation and more products that are brought to market. It lifts the whole industry up.”

It helped us to have a little bit of naivete in terms of going forward and actually just decided to design, develop, bring to market this product, because if we really overthought it, we potentially would have said to ourselves: “Those issues are too big to overcome. There’s going to be a lot of returns from the product, and we can’t. It’s too much of a risk.”

When I was 40 and I had a lot of knowledge, we made decisions that were wrong for the business, where almost too much knowing was a detriment.

Founders are constantly told to start before they’re ready. What’s the difference between taking a smart risk and being unprepared?

First you have to back up, and you have to make a decision: Do I want to be in business for myself? Once you’ve made that decision, so many different opportunities could come your way, because you’re very clear on what you want to do.

The other thing is that you will never have 100% of the information. I think that a lot of entrepreneurs always look for that…You’ll spend more time on the last 20% than the first 80%. In business, timing is everything, momentum is everything, and you can miss the windows. It’s a combination of all those things.

Sometimes the best things happen as a result of taking the risk and having a failure, because a few failures will lead to the successes in the future. You can’t look at it as an isolated decision on this one distinct opportunity.

Do you want control of your life? Do you want to build equity in your life? Do you want the equity? Do you want the time in your 20s and 30s—or whatever it is—that time to accrue to you, or do you want it to accrue to someone else?