10 Ideas that Earned $100 Million

#9 K’NEX

Master Brain: Joel Glickman

In a wedding party, the 50 years old Joel Glickman, sitting at a table, started cutting and connecting a bunch of straws together. Who would imagine that the very moment Joel got an inspiration for a new business? But in fact his creation gave him an idea for a plastic construction toy business (He was already working with his family plastic business).

This idea became an obsession in him, which was criticized by his family in the beginning. But, anyhow, he decided to go on with his idea. He took a huge risk shutting down part of the family’s injection molded plastic business to make the construction toys.

Soon after K’NEX hit the market, in 1993, the founder of Toys R Us said it was the best thing he’d seen in years. Just four years after this the toy business grew just below $100 million. Though retired now, Glickman goes back to business whenever it suffered to make it stronger.