In just a few years, Toronto-based ForeverSpin, producer of ultra high-end, finely engineered spinning tops, has achieved a global presence, shipping to over 120 countries.
It’s taken just three years to buff and polish their product to a covetable shine. Three years to identify an audience and target them with laser precision. And, three years to break through the geographical barriers and conquer international markets1.
How did they get so big in such a short time? They started with some e-commerce basics. For instance, their website is exactly right for a traditional product2. There’s a confidence in the imagery and the emotive taglines. A real sense of timelessness and elegance.
An e-commerce masterclass
To find out more, we caught up with Viktor Grabovskyy, one of ForeverSpin’s three founders. Here he shares his thoughts on the pitfalls, planning and passion that led to the meteoric rise of one determined startup.
In business, people often focus on the success stories, the big dreams that turn big revenues – not the crumpled blueprints, the small business ideas that go nowhere. But there is much to be learned from people’s failures and side-steps and how they use them as a transformative or driving force. ForeverSpin was not the trio’s first venture.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
In 2013, they had planned to start an analytics company. “We had originally started with a few other projects,” Viktor explains. “We were just looking for different ways to obtain funding and found that some ideas worked better on Kickstarter than others. That’s how our flagship product was created. We launched a campaign for ForeverSpin on Kickstarter, it became incredibly successful, we’ve continued to evolve it – and really never looked back.”
And while there is a degree of luck involved in sparking the imagination of thousands, their approach was methodical. “We had a few criteria that were just fundamentally required by all of us,” Viktor says. “Something that’s incredibly simple and beautiful in its simplicity. Something of unmatched quality. And, finally, something that’s nostalgic.” The spinning top ticked all of these boxes. But this also proves that your desired ingredients can eventually become a recipe for success – with the right idea.
Be passionate about your product
Viktor Grabovskyy and his fellow founders may have tried out a few concepts before settling on the winning formula of ForeverSpin, but that is not to suggest that they are flippant about spinning tops. Quite the contrary. “All three of us played with the wooden spinning top as children,” says Viktor. “It’s what we remember as our first toy.”
However, he’s quick to dismiss any suggestion that the spinning tops are part of society’s current appetite for all things retro. Such a label, he contends, would make the spinning top seem trendy and fashionable – a fad that could disappear. Yes, there is a nostalgic element to spinning tops, but it is more the quality of yesteryear that is attracting consumers’ attention3. “Items that were popular in the past were of high quality and high value but the global marketing platform wasn’t there to communicate the product to the world,” says Viktor. In essence, people miss craftsmanship.
And with a range of beautiful tops meticulously created from over 17 different metals, this is a niche that ForeverSpin can cater to perfectly4. The tops are designed to look elegant and function precisely in what is perhaps the most perfect marriage of style and substance.
