The company excels in delivering global digital, brand, marketing, licensing and retail strategies for entertainment and gaming IPs worldwide and has taken successful gaming properties such as “Among Us” and “Gang Beasts” and turned them into toys and apparel for fans globally. Last year it sold over 20 million toys across 100 markets worldwide and boasts 70,000+ points of sale in North America alone, thanks to partnerships with Netflix, Skydance, Apple and Roblox, amongst others. This has drawn the attention of famed US entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, who is now a strategic investor in the company. Founder and CEO Darran Garnham has 20 years of experience within the kids’ toy and entertainment sector andheldmultiple board-level roles for leading industry names like NBCUniversal and Mind Candy. He started the company during lockdown in 2020 from his living room. Three years on, it’s an eightfigure business. Here he speaks to CEO Today about his journey, the challenges he’s had to overcome to make Toikido such a huge success, and the business lessons he has learnt along the way. to excel in delivering muchneeded disruption. I think a lot of the success we’ve enjoyed has been the result of our “action”. In business it’s easy to get lost in the weeds, but from day one, we’ve always aimed as a company to be big, bold, and focussed, as well as doing our best to prioritise the right things. Our commercial secret is “speed”. Given kids’ play patterns, their attention and loyalties rapidly change, so moving at the “speed of culture” is crucial. I’m proud to say that we recently went from signing a deal to getting In just three years Toikido has gone from being a small start-up to an eightfigure business. What would you attribute that success to and do think you need to change the formula to build upon it over the next three years? Having been in toys for over 20 years, I was fed up working in an industry built on seasonal cycles, movie sequels and 10-year plans. The time was ripe for change and Toikido has been able product on retailers’ shelves in just five months. Our competitors would see it as an achievement having a contract signed in the same period of time. Naturally, our “formula” will be tweaked over the next three years, but if anything, we want to move even faster. As such, our challenge is to remain lean, nimble, adaptative and well clear of the weeds! Thankfully I’ve surrounded myself with a small but amazing team, which is mainly composed of former colleagues I’ve met throughout my career. It’s great because we’re all good friends and I know from experience they’re the best at what they do, so I’m quietly confident we can exceed expectations further! The Toikido team is an eclectic mix of Grammy and BAFTAwinners, inventors, investors, social media and tech experts. What binds you together and how are you able to work together so effectively? Firstly, I want to work with people I like, admire, and inspire. We’re a creative 54 THE DISRUPTORS
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