Wharton alumni work as toy investors, entrepreneurs

It’s all fun and games for these four Wharton MBA graduates. Each has taken a less conventional path after graduating from the school with a reputation for finance and has instead gone into the toy industry as inventors and entrepreneurs.

Michael Rinzler

1999 Wharton MBA graduate Michael Rinzler is not just a businessman, but also a toy inventor. His newest product is “a Girl Scout cookie oven — reminiscent of an Easy-Bake oven. For the first time you can create Girl Scout cookies,” he said.

Rinzler is the co-founder of Wicked Cool Toys, a company that designs, develops and markets all kinds of children’s toys.

Rinzler came up with the idea for this toy while working on his Field Application Project, a class offered to MBA students. “What’s so incredible is that the project I did I’m turning into a toy 16 or 17 years later,” he said.

The oven was released at the Toy Fair in New York City this past weekend. “It’s really exciting because it’s the first time that Girl Scouts is letting anyone do this,” he said. Girl Scouts of the USA is allowing this toy to feature mixes inspired by its popular cookies like Thin Mints and Trefoils.

Earlier this month, Wicked Cool Toys also entered a strategic partnership with Original Appalachian Artworks, the parent company of Cabbage Patch Kids. “We are now the only ones who can make Cabbage Patch Kids in the world,” Rinzler said. With the exclusive rights to design and produce the dolls, Wicked Cool Toys will be releasing a new line of Cabbage Patch Kids products in fall 2015.

Rinzler emphasized how much he enjoys his work — “In today’s world, the most important thing is to do something because you love it, not because you will get financially rewarded. That comes in time,” he said. “Once toys gets into your blood you can’t get out it out. It is a lot of fun on a daily basis.”

Bernie Tenenbaum

At the corporate level of the toy industry is 1981 Wharton MBA graduate Bernie Tenenbaum. He began his career in the industry as an outside director for Russ Berrie and Company (now Kid Brands, Inc.), which was then the largest gift company in the toy business.

One of its products was Trolls, the iconic plastic dolls with tufts of multi-colored hair. “We went from nothing to 400 million dollars with Trolls in a year. It’s a business with which you can catch lightning in a bottle overnight [and] be a success,” Tenenbaum said.

Tenenbaum later moved to the private equity firm The Jordan Company, which bought British toys and games manufacturer Vivid Imagination, which was responsible for the distribution of brands like The Simpsons and X-Men in Europe.

When Tenenbaum had had enough of the life of constant travel, he moved back to New Jersey, where he worked on the launch and ultimate sale of the Toys “R” Us website, helping the company break a billion dollars in sales.

As the Associate Director of the Entrepreneurial Center at Wharton for 10 years, Tenenbaum says it all comes back to his time at Wharton — “It cultivates the individual,” he said. “Wharton was the place that supported the individual idea, despite its impression of feeding people to Wall Street.”

Mary Beth Minton

The idea for creating a doll-like stuffed bear came about from 1982 Wharton MBA graduate Mary Beth Minton’s experiences with her own daughters. “I noticed that my two daughters, when they were younger, played very differently: One would play with dolls and one would only play with teddy bears, but as if they were dolls,” Minton said.

Minton’s company Zylie & Friends features Zylie, a stuffed bear designed for children aged four to 11. Zylie is not a traditional teddy bear. She has a wardrobe and an elaborate backstory detailed in accompanying books; she hails from Manhattan, has a brother named Theo and travels the world meeting other bears indigenous to the countries she visits.

Her product is intended to be “a hybrid between a doll and a plush, and giving it a backstory that would inspire children to get off the couch and play,” she said.

Minton was inspired by her 2006 Wharton class reunion. “I was amazed at how many people were entrepreneurs,” Minton said. “I realized I had the skills and I realized that there was a network accessible.”

Since the launch in 2010, the product has been made into a co-branded line with FAO Schwartz and is sold in Toys “R” Us stores and online.“We’ve been amazed at the connection Zylie makes with children. The kids who have her love her,” Minton said.

Minton also advised aspiring toy makers to do research and test marketing. “Ultimately, the feedback you get from customers will guide how you move forward. We’ve been refining the product every step of the way,” she said.

Michael Last

2005 Wharton MBA graduate Michael Last is the founder of Intellitoys, a technology company that partners with toy manufacturers, musicians, educators and publishers to create customizable toys.

Taking what he learned from one of his Wharton classes, Last developed a product that allows parents to customize the toy to fit the needs of the family — something he believes is missing in the industry.

Last entered the Wharton Business Plan Competition in 2005 with the plan that eventually became Intellitoys in 2008.

“What we build is an end-to-end platform that allows toy companies like ourselves or other partners to put customizable parts into toys to download content into the toys,” Last said. The parent can customize their child’s favorite animal with language programs or songs. “There are about 8000 songs to choose from in four different languages and 30 different learning games,” he said.

Last did not expect that he would enter the toy industry, though he definitely had an “entrepreneurial mindset” going into Wharton, he said. Last worked in consulting for two years before founding Intellitoys and said it was “tremendously helpful for getting some of the skills to run your own business.”

He also said it is important for students to follow their passions and not what others are doing. “There is a lot of pressure [on students] seeing everyone around them interviewing for consulting and banking jobs,” Last said. “You have to keep your focus and not get pulled along with the herd. There are a lot of other industries out there than banking and consulting.”

Related: Semifinalists face off in Wharton Business Plan Competition

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