Robofish Factory Troubles

A story about how Nick Mowbray's company licensed an innovative toy called Robofish, which became a massive success but faced major challenges with factory bankruptcy and legal issues.

"We met this Chinese inventor through a French guy in Hong Kong who was running a factory in China. He showed us this Robofish - it had little carbon sensors and an electromagnetic coil that made it swim like a real fish when it touched water. Initially, I didn't think much of it, but my brother loved it.

We licensed the fish, and it became one of the best-selling toys in the world, doing about $100 million in sales. But then we got hit with two major problems. First, we got sued because the inventor had previously worked at a US company and they claimed he designed the schematics while under their employment.

Even worse, the factory we were bound to make it with went bankrupt at peak production. The factory had specialized equipment for testing these fish underwater for pressure and leaks. When it shut down, the Chinese army came in to prevent assets from being removed since factory workers were first creditors.

We had no choice - we had to get our tools and equipment out. My brother organized eight trucks filled with our team members, and at 2-3 AM, we paid bribes to enter the factory. We loaded up all the tooling and equipment in the middle of the night and relocated to a new factory to continue production.

It was crazy - just when we finally had momentum, this happened. But nothing ever happens without a hiccup."