A few days ago, an ad popped up on one of my news feeds for a
toy manufactured by a Canadian company called Forever Spin. The ForeverSpin top
is the only toy manufactured by the company. The tops are available in
18 different metals and finishes.
The
metals used include titanium, 24k gold, brass, and magnesium, but the most
expensive top is one made from Tungsten, which sells for $195. The company also
recommends the purchase of a base, which range in price from $39 to $78.
The
Tungsten top is pictured below:
Most of us likely played with some very basic spinning tops
when we were kids, but it may surprise you to know that spinning tops are a lot
older than you might imagine, since a clay top unearthed in Iraq was dated to 35th
century BC—nearly six thousand years ago.
Most modern tops are made from
wood, and look like those in the picture below:
Using modern materials and technology
designers have attempted to minimize friction as much as possible in order to
create tops that spin for a very, very long time. Lacopo Simonelli currently
holds the record with a non-mechanical top that spins for over 50 minutes.
Since the tops made by ForeverSpin are precision made out of exotic metals, my
guess is that they also would spin for a long time.
The 3 founders of the company
originally wanted to start an analytics company, but did not have the funding
to get it off the ground. One of them had the idea to manufacture the top as a
modern piece of nostalgia. Rather than obtaining funds from banks or other more
traditional lenders, the company relied on a series of crowdfunding campaigns
to raise money. To date, the company has raised over $1,000,000 from their crowdfunding
campaigns.
There are two lessons you can
draw from the ForeverSpin story:
1)
If you are looking
for a unique gift, high quality spinning tops can be a reasonably affordable
choice
2)
If you have a unique
idea, and are creative about financing it, you can make a lot money.
