John Osher describes the initial retail test run for the Spinbrush electric toothbrush at Meijer stores in 1999.
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“We'd put them out, and we were selling seven a day per store, which was just in a different realm of any other toothbrush in the world.”
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More from John Osher
Insight
Osher: Initiating a company sale yields one-tenth of buyer-initiated prices
“Because anytime you try to sell something, you get about one-tenth of what you get when they want to buy you.”
John OsherFeb 16, 2026▶ 45:32Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Osher: Spinbrush was the highest-testing consumer product in P&G history
“And it turned out, and we didn't know this till later, that it was the highest testing product they ever did in the history of Procter & Gamble with consumers.”
John OsherFeb 16, 2026▶ 47:23Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
Disclosure
Osher: Offered $10M to buy back Spinbrush; P&G leveraged for $75M
“I said, I would, but I'm not willing to pay much money. I'll give you ten million dollars for the whole thing, but I'll close next week. You know, everything else was, they were always waiting six months, you know, and then there would be due diligence. I said…”
John OsherFeb 16, 2026▶ 55:00Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
Opinion
Osher: Church & Dwight did a 'terrible job' managing Spinbrush
“But Church and Dwight did a, has done, and did, and has still done a terrible job. They didn't really do anything with it, and everyone else is in it, so when you go to the store, there's 15 different variations of spin brush on the shelves now.”
John OsherFeb 16, 2026▶ 56:09Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
Insight
Osher: Set prices by market willingness to pay, not wholesale cost
“The reason I bring it up is it was a great lesson that I used for the rest of my whole business career, and that is that you set your price on what the market will pay, what's the optimum price for a market, as opposed to what you paid for it.”
John OsherFeb 16, 2026▶ 6:12Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
Insight
Osher: Entrepreneurial confidence comes from small early wins
“It almost would seem as if I'm a courageous person because I'm so willing to open businesses and this and that, and it really does come back to the value of starting my first business at five years old and having businesses successful. All through high school,…”
John OsherFeb 16, 2026▶ 8:37Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
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