The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 26 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Doug Bernstein: Copying established models leads to mediocrity by definition
“Because our feeling has always been, if we copy every good model out there, at very best, what does that mean? We're going to be mediocre by definition, because we are simply following and copying what everyone else is doing.”
Bernstein: Toymakers must design products that explain themselves without retail staff
“It reminded us that there's a higher burden on us because we take our products really personally. And we think that everyone in every day is going to take all the time to explain everything about it the way that We, the inventors would. And that's not always t…”
Melissa Bernstein: Consumers desire nostalgic toys updated with modern flair
“People actually still want Things that are nostalgic and make them remember their past, but they don't want them dusty and like they found them in some old attic. They want them, you know, injected with pizzazz and brought to today.”
Melissa Bernstein: Small independent stores were the only way to launch products
“Well, by this time, we had expanded beyond New England, but definitely the small independent stores. We were firmly convinced that that was the only way we could really get our products out there.”
Melissa & Doug intentionally avoids hit-driven fads to build evergreen products
“I mean, and we don't have, you know, we're not a hit-driven company. We joke that we have a lot of singles and doubles. We don't really want home runs because we don't want it here today gone tomorrow. We're an evergreen company. We want our toys to be around …”
A hired manufacturing agent set up a competing booth selling their puzzles
“The very first time we went to a very large toy show where you would exhibit to retailers and show them your products, and the agent who we had hired to help us make our puzzles had a display set up just down the hall from us with our exact puzzles.”
Products must be designed to explain themselves without retail store clerks
“It reminded us that there's a higher burden on us because we take our products really personally. And we think that everyone in every day is going to take all the time to explain everything about it the way that we, the inventors would. And that's not always t…”
Harary: Spin Master Funded Melissa & Doug Acquisition With PAW Patrol Profits
“One of the things we did was we took a lot of the earnings that we made from Paw Patrol, and we bought Melissa and Doug, and the reason for that was to have, to even out the ups and downs of the toy industry, and Melissa and Doug is a very stable, you know, op…”
Doug Bernstein: Company had three videos and roughly 2,000 retailers by year three
“We produced a video a year for three years, and we had three videos out there in relationships now with, I'd say probably, I'm gonna guess a couple thousand retailers.”
Melissa & Doug's own manufacturing agent copied and sold their first puzzles
“The very first time we went to a very large toy show where you would exhibit to retailers and show them your products, and the agent who we had hired to help us make our puzzles had a display set up just down the hall from us with our exact puzzles.”
Doug Bernstein: Melissa & Doug was originally named Lights, Camera, Interaction
“Our first company name that we called ourselves was Lights, Camera, Interaction.”
Melissa & Doug still manufactures half of its toy products from wood
“50% of what we make is still wood and then Other materials. We use a lot of metal. We use canvas but mostly not plastic.”
Melissa Bernstein keeps 500 failed toy prototypes behind her desk
“Behind my desk I have about, I can't even fit them anymore, maybe 500 toys that were all my very favorite toys that failed in a big way, some of them entire categories, because every day I want to remind myself when I come to work and come to my desk that the …”
Melissa & Doug reached 1,000 employees and over $350 million in revenue
“The company has grown from just the two of them to almost a thousand employees with revenue of more than three hundred and fifty million dollars a year”
Consumers want nostalgic toys injected with pizzazz and modern appeal
“People actually still want things that are nostalgic and make them remember their past, but they don't want them dusty and like they found them in some old attic. They want them, you know, injected with pizzazz and brought to today.”
Bernstein: Melissa & Doug spent $30K-$40K to produce their first video
“Probably I think all told the first one, we probably spent about 30 or 40,000 dollars to produce.”
Melissa & Doug sold out 1,000 Puzzle World sets at Toy Fair
“We had, I believe we had a thousand assortments, and we literally, by the third day of Toy Fair, we sold out.”
Founders bootstrapped Melissa & Doug for three years eating ramen and hot dogs
“We wanted to be self-funded, and we lived incredibly frugally for at least three years. We ate ramen noodles, which we ate for a dollar, and turkey hot dogs on a hot plate, because it was about 50 cents a meal, and we lived with our parents for a few years unt…”
Doug Bernstein: Melissa & Doug started with interactive products for children
“I think we walked out of there knowing that we wanted to start by doing some interactive products for children, things that they could really interact with rather than be, ah, passive recipients of.”
Melissa & Doug spent $30,000 to $40,000 producing their first video
“Probably I think all told the first one, we probably spent about 30 or 40,000 dollars to produce.”
Melissa & Doug was bootstrapped by reinvesting all early revenue into inventory
“We wanted to be self-funded, and we lived incredibly frugally. For at least three years, we ate ramen noodles, which were eight for a dollar, and turkey hot dogs on a hot plate, because it was about 50 cents a meal, and we lived with our parents for a few year…”
Melissa & Doug sourced its early puzzle illustrators from public library books
“So we went to the library, and we'd look at a lot of children's books, and we'd look for illustrators that we liked, and we would contact illustrators, and we'd see who might want to help illustrate this.”
Melissa & Doug originated from a desire to make interactive children's products
“I think we walked out of there knowing that we wanted to start by doing some interactive products for children, things that they could really interact with rather than be, ah, passive recipients of.”
Melissa & Doug was originally named Lights, Camera, Interaction
“Our first company name that we called ourselves was Lights, Camera, Interaction.”
Melissa & Doug's first product was a self-produced interactive children's video
“We decided that we wanted to make a program for children that would be groundbreaking in that children wouldn't sit there and watch it. They would actually participate with the program. And so we literally wrote, scripted, produced, directed, cast, wrote music…”