Moshi Monsters to Calm
Share
A story about Michael Acton Smith, who created a massive children's brand called Moshi Monsters before co-founding Calm.
"Michael Acton Smith created Moshi Monsters in the UK - it was essentially like a Pokemon-type phenomenon. It was this children's online world with characters that turned into many things. They put those characters on shampoo and other products, and he dreamed of having a theme park.
At its peak, 1 in 3 kids in the UK were playing it. It was valued at over $1 billion, and Michael was the man. He looks like Russell Brand - he's got this free love energy, and Richard Branson loved it, everybody loved it.
But then they got ahead of their skis. When those second graders hit third grade, they moved on to the next thing. Overnight, the business started losing relevancy. The characters lost relevancy, nobody was buying the plush toys, and the TV show didn't want to get made anymore. As fast as you can climb as a fad phenomenon, that's as fast as it can unwind.
He was worth hundreds of millions on paper but never got to realize it. He had to start over from scratch. What makes it even more amazing is that he went on to co-found Calm and helped grow it into a multi-billion dollar brand. He's done it again."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.