YouSaid · the spoken record

Isaac Larian

lines on the record: 80
first: 2024-03-25
most recent: 2024-03-25
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“No, and if interest rates were 19% of the time, And I had the line of credit with meeting manufacturers bank. I didn't have money to pay them.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, they were looking for something new. That's what something I learned from that. Literally two years on, I was sitting in $10 million of inventory.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, the first year, you know, when you're in Kosovo Electronics, you're happy to make 8-10%. In toys, I was making 32% profit and the first year I saw $23 million of Nintendo Gaming Watch. Wow. I thought I've died and gone to heaven.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In three months, but it's going to be all in Japanese packaging. And I said, that's fine, I'll take it. And so I made the name of the subsidiary of ABC International Micro Games of America. And that's how I started.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“leaves and comes back from lunch and comes to where I'm sitting and he says I am Mr Tudori what can I do for you I said I want to buy a Nintendo Game& Watch for America as a distributor and I'll pay cash and letter credit and he says sorry not interested and I said can I have your business card reluctantly he gave me his business card and I came to America and I opened the letter of credit for a million dollars full wire to Nintendo attention master Todori and then I called him three days later I said did you get the letter of credit and he said yes but I told you we're not interested I said I just want to show you that I'm serious about buying and distributing Nintendo game and watch so he said okay we can ship you”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, exactly about that time. So I went to, I found out where the headquarter is was in Kyoto. And I literally took the bullet train, went to their headquarters and asked to talk to the export manager. And if you have dealt and you've been in Japan, you don't just walk into some places, I want to see the export manager. The receptionist picked up the phone, said something in Japanese on the other side and said to me, sorry, not available. I said, what's his name? And then she did the same thing and says, sorry cannot give you the name. So I said, okay, I'll wait until he's available. So I sat there and there's this big tall guy talks to her, looks at me.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it was a huge thing because I was reading Wall Street Journal and Nintendo had become the king of consumer electronics and they done $5 billion in sales. It was crazy.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yet. And the funny thing is my son Jason when he was growing up, he was, I think, 22, 23, and we went to Bloomingdale to buy suits. And I picked two and he picked one. And I told him, go ask the guy for a discount. He got red in the face and he says, Dad, this is not the bazaars of Tehran.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They were buying from the manufacturer representative in USA. First of all, there was a shortage. Like they would buy it from Sony of America They were the shortage. Secondly, Japanese companies sold the product in the USA at a much higher price than they did in Japan, Singapore, or Hong Kong. So I had two things to my advantage. I had a supply and I had a better price and they started buying from me.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yo, yeah, yeah. I went to all kinds of consumer electronics. I was called the king of gray market because that was what was called parallel import. It's called gray market.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, exactly. And boom, deposited the check cashed and I had made $40 a unit. Improve it, they say, oh my God, this is big.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, but again, I wanted to go bigger. So there was a company called Olympic Sales selling Sony Walkman's Apple computers, etc. So one day I put 18 of my Sony Walkman trees in the trunk and went to the store, went upstairs and asked for the owner. This short French Moroccan guy walks out. He says, I'm Francis Ravel. I said, I have Sony Watchman's. And he says, are they stolen? I said, no. So how many do you have? I said, 18. So I went to my car and brought them up in the lobby and showed it to him. He examined all of them. He still didn't believe that they were original. He says, okay, I'll buy them, but I give you a post aid to check. Only valid two weeks from now because he wanted to know by then he will find out.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I filed did go first time to Tokyo. And I thought, wow, I'm in heaven. All those electronic stores. And literally, I had at that time saved about, I think, $18,000. And I would go to store to store. And you have Sony Walkman 3. Yes, how many do you have? Four. I buy all four. Wow. Then I would take it to the hotel and come back again. And one day one store told me you don't have to do that. You can just put it in a taxi. They'll take it to the hotel and it will be there when you get there. I couldn't believe that was going to happen. You do that in New York or LA. You probably won't see it.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, exactly. But basically Sony Walkman had come to America and they were in big, big demand. And I had learned about importing with surprise gift wagon. So I started looking for in Japan, in Singapore, in Hong Kong. Literally, I would get the yellow pages from those cities and go look for electronic retailers. And then I would buy from them because they were selling them cheaper in Japan that they were selling it in USA. And I would import those 10, 12 pieces at a time and selling them.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If you recall the company ABC International, and the reason I chose ABC, because at that time there were yellow pages and I wanted the company name to be.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yafarhad, and eventually things got so bad that I was pushing for my parents to come. And they basically were smuggled across Afghanistan, across Pakistan, literally on horses and back of pickup trucks. And they applied for a refugee visa. And they finally got that and came to America.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, it was. So when I graduated, I went back to Iran to see what's going on. But when I went to Iran, it was fascinating for me. All of a sudden the streets looked a lot smaller than I remembered them. And the revolution was happening. And I said, you know what? This is not for me. I'm going to go back.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He saw you there. So my wife says, you must have had angels on your shoulder along the way all your life. So he told me the only job that they have is graveyard shift, washing dishes. And it's from 11 to 7 in the morning and pays $65 an hour. And I multiply $1.65 the purge in real. So my God, that's a lot of money. Yes, I took the job. I said, yes, I took the job right away.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I says, he told me far. Iran, yes, see, are you Persian? And I said, yes. He says, are you hungry? I said, yes. He said, come back. He made me liver an onion, which I still taste and I still go once in a while there to have it. It tastes it great.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so within a month I was down to 25 quarters in my pocket and I had no idea what the hell am I going to do. So I started walking literally on La Brea Boulevard. I walked for 11 miles one day going to every gas station, 7-Eleven. You name it, asking for a job and everybody said no to me until I got to a place called Spires Coffee Shop and I asked them for a job and they said, sorry, they have nothing open. And so they're behind the counter was this guy with a white hat. He was a cook. You could see it when you were sitting in the coffee shop. And I left. I started walking back really crying. And he came and put his hand on my shoulder.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you're 17 and you have grown up with hardship through the slums, you have a feeling of invincibility and you have a feeling that, okay, I'll learn it. It's not difficult. Yeah, I was trying to teach myself English. I bought an English-Persian dictionary, and that's what I was reading every day and getting LA Times trying to read that and learn from it, trying to watch TV and learn from that. But I had no idea.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so to be honest with you, Guy, I was scared shitless when I got here. When I came here, my mom borrowed $753 from her brothers and also gave me a yellow blanket which I still have and actually is hung at MGA's headquarter. And frankly also coming out of Iran, this was my first time on a plane, actually. It was first time for me to get out of Tehran ever. So, I mean, I cried all the way from Tehran to America on the plane. And the students first sorry for me and they kept giving me food.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And, you know, one day when the neighbors gathered around me with the biggest bully in the neighborhood, his name was Mortiza, he started beating me and I started hitting him back so hard until he was on the ground. And since then he became my friend. So they didn't bully me after that.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I mean certain things as a kid when you put in your head, it doesn't go away. When we lived in the slums, there were a lot of uneducated people that basically were kind of fundamentalists. And I remember being beaten up by the bullies in the neighborhood because I was Jewish. I was getting beaten up so bad one day that when I came home I think I was about seven years old from school that I was all bloody and my mother told me that if you ever come home again bloodied I'm gonna also hit you go fight back by 9 10 11 I had made to dumbbles from two bricks and a piece of wood and I remember that and I was exercising to get stronger”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was. And that was a defining moment in my life. I told myself one day I'm going to have so much money that nobody in my family is going to suffer from poverty.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My father was a textile merchant and he was a good entrepreneur but he loaned money left and right to these so-called friends and family they didn't give him back the money and he went bankrupt. So, one of the creditors, one day walked into our house with another big guy, I remember, I opened the door, they burst in, and the guy demanded money. And of course, my father didn't have money to give him. So they started beating him with this big stick until he was bloodied and on the floor. I was crying. My mother was crying, my little sister was crying. And then they left. They said, pay me or we come back and they left.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right and made dresses for the neighbors. And my mother supported us and the whole family. You know, my mom had me when she was 15 years old.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Huge, yes. Everybody was working so hard. I was working since I was nine years old. My mom started buying closed out textile and making she was a good”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lived in actually the slums, no running water, no light, and we lived there with my aunt and my two, three other cousins all in a two-bedroom house.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I went to a guy named Ron Stover who was a buyer at Walmart. Very tough to sell products to. I came with the next doll. He said, no, one day he took me to Walmart and showed me this 98 feet of Barbie products. He says Isaac, you see this. They own 90% market share. They sell and I make my bonuses every year. I said, Ron, what if I came up with something better than Barbie and you didn't buy it? You're going to feel left out. So I came back and toured my design team. Give me something. That competes with Barbie.”
2024-03-25 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT