The first Irwin Toy was, at one time, Canada’s largest toy company. It was sold by the Irwin family, managed badly by the new owners, and ended up in bankruptcy. In 2003, George Irwin and his brother Peter decided to take a shot at reinventing the family business, so they bought back the company name. For this new Toronto-based incarnation, the brothers decided to limit their risk through a very specific approach to the business. First, they concluded, as Bob Fuhrer had, that there was no longer a need to handle everything in-house. “We could get up and running faster and far less expensively by relying on total outsourcing,” said George Irwin. Second, they believed that they could limit their risk by focusing on variations of toys with proven appeal. They were enthusiastic about the i-TOP because, as George Irwin notes, “This is an exciting modern variation on a product with proven appeal. Tops have been around for a long time.”

George Irwin recognizes that his company is at the forefront of a new, more profitable business model. He says that he and his brother managed to start “a large toy business without raising a great deal of money.” Although they did borrow some funds through mortgages on their homes, it was a small amount compared with the capital once needed to become a serious entrant in the toy business. He says,

We absolutely could not have created the i-TOP in the same way five years ago. The easy ability to communicate through the Internet made all the difference. In the

<--previous page

next page-->

Search the complete text of Go It Alone!