Carlton Calvin
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Carlton Calvin: Razor. The wild rise, collapse, and reinvention of a mobile toy empire.
- Published
- September 8, 2025
- Duration
- 1h 13m
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jun 24, 2026
Discusses In the summer of 2000, Razor scooters were everywhere—on sidewalks, in schools, even in Silicon Vall…
Summary
In the summer of 2000, Razor scooters were everywhere—on sidewalks, in schools, even in Silicon Valley offices. At the center of it all was Carlton Calvin, an ex-lawyer turned toy mogul who had already ridden—and crashed—multiple crazes, from Pogs to yo-yos.Carlton knew how to spot what kids wanted before the world caught on. But when Razor went from sell…
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Show notes
In the summer of 2000, Razor scooters were everywhere—on sidewalks, in schools, even in Silicon Valley offices. At the center of it all was Carlton Calvin, an ex-lawyer turned toy mogul who had already ridden—and crashed—multiple crazes, from Pogs to yo-yos.Carlton knew how to spot what kids wanted before the world caught on. But when Razor went from selling a million scooters a month to zero almost overnight, his business teetered on collapse.This is a story about timing, obsession and instinct