Paw Patrol Co-Creator Funds GW Startups

Welcome back. 738 this Sunday morning and eight George Washington University students are now one step closer to launching their dream businesses thanks for a visit from a toy industry titan. Spin Master co-founder and Paw Patrol co-creator Rowan Harari brought his no experience necessary challenge to campus awarding on the spot grants to students. Spin Master co-founder Ronan Harari joins us live this morning to talk through the challenge and share what's up for local students so uh first of all thanks for for being with us this morning you started Spin Master right out of college you had no uh business experience yourself uh you created a global hit and Paw Patrol why do you believe um that this is the time for people in their 20s to take these big kind of risks well first of all thanks for having me on tom good morning um and i have to say i fell in love with the students at George Washington super high energy bunch um Listen I'm a big believer i started my business when i was at 20 in university and uh and then i really got going when i was 23 but the greatest thing about starting young and at university is you're able to find business partners i found my business partner Anton um the stakes are low you can graduate without debt and when you're in your 20s there's so many magical things that accrue to you everybody wants you to win everybody wants you to win everybody's rooting for you older people like myself when you hit middle age you just want to give back you remember what it's like to get a break when you're younger. I read a chapter on the power of not knowing. There's so many magical things that happen that when you don't have so many things in your mind, you just have so much courage to push forward and actually make things happen and bring them into existence. That's a great perspective for them as they move forward, both of their lives, you know, in personal lives and business lives as well, too. So you got to look at this. What did these George Washington University students actually do? what excited you when you saw it you know there's a there's a bunch of different pitches i took about 35 in total i've now taken about 300 across the country and we funded eight at George Washington there was a great pitch on AI and uh one young student who's really passionate about cars and modifications and the ability for you to actually do the modification see it live on your car using AI and then the ability to actually buy it live on the spot in a marketplace um another student had an idea about um cultural records and all about things that are done in history that um go unpreserved and they wanted to preserve those ideas and a myriad of other ideas that were great from the students yeah i gotta ask you about how you did this because you know obviously we live in a world of Zoom capabilities you could have you know taken this all in Zoom. You hit the road, though, for no experience necessary Why was that important to not just learn about these ideas, but actually to be there in person? Yeah, no, I grew up with a learning disability called dysgraphia. And so I believe that the most amazing things happen when you're in front of people, right? The magic doesn't happen in front of the screen. If you don't go, you don't get. And people want to feel your passion. And people bet on individuals. And I believe that when you're young, you're so likable. People want to be around your energy. And so for me, I just wanted to meet my audience where they were at. And when I wrote this book, No Experience Necessary, Why Betting on Yourself in Your 20s is the Best Decision You'll Ever Make, people said to me, Renan, you need to live the book. You need to live the book. And so that's what I'm going, that's what I'm doing. And I'm trying to get young people to experience what it's like to take risks. and I believe when you take a risk you suddenly go into momentum and when you're in momentum you create your own luck and so all your luck is generated through movement and so I think Yeah, and I know a lot of people sometimes will look at the younger generation say you know that they're concerned about them you know that maybe they are online too much and not engaging. You had some real time with folks so what was your takeaway from this generation and what do you carry forward from these interactions that you've had? I think this generation is really lit up. They want to win. They're in it to win it. They're super passionate. I had people repitch me that didn't get awarded. They came back again and again and again. Some people followed me all the way out to the trailer because we did it indoors. it was raining. I think the generation, it's a mix, a mix between risk averse, um, and wanting to take the risk, right? Even though they're risk averse they're trying to push through the resistance and I think a lot of this generation they want autonomy, they want um to have agency in their life and they want to control their own life their own destiny and um and bring things into the world that they're passionate about, so I was very encouraged, Ronan Harari bringing his 'no experience necessary' challenge to George Washington University. That's good to hear. Those people who repitched it might be good journalists as well, too, because they're tenacious. I kind of like that. Ronan, thanks so much for joining us this Sunday. Thank you, Tom.