No Experience Necessary

The co-founder and former CEO of Spin Master, a children’s entertainment powerhouse, reveals the secret business advantages of youth—and how having no experience can be the keys to finding success in your twenties. Ronnen Harary co-founded the company that would become Spin Master when he was twenty-three, less than a year out of college, and living at home with his mother. He didn’t realize it at the time, but his youth was his biggest asset. Thirty years later, Spin Master now has twenty-eight offices around the globe, over 3,000 employees, and billions of dollars in annual revenue. Having helped create massive global toy lines, including Bakugan and PAW Patrol, Harary’s success has helped fuel innovation in the toy industry and in children’s animation around the world. Structured around eleven core principles, No Experience Necessary makes the case that Harary’s success sprang from the incredibly powerful advantages of youth, and that we squander these advantages at our peril. This book, part delightful recounting of the growth of a beloved toymaking brand and part manifesto for young entrepreneurs, breaks down the many ways that early adulthood conveys superpowers that can fuel our success—while they last. Whether discussing the enhanced ability to take on and manage risk, the supercharged opportunities to find the right business partners, or the good will that naturally rains down on the young from mentors and elders, Harary spins powerful and entertaining lessons from his journey that will help readers find their own path. In an age when ever-changing technology threatens to impact traditional entry-level jobs across the spectrum, Harary exhorts young readers to take control of their own destiny. No Experience Necessary is a rallying cry for dreamers to embrace the messy reality of building something meaningful from scratch.