Immaturity makes toymaker a 2-time winner
— -- You never know when a life-changing moment will seize hold. For Roger Shiffman, it arrived in the mid-1970s, shortly after he graduated from college. Long a toy lover and already a veteran (since age 15) of the retail industry, Shiffman had begun working at a toy wholesaler just as electronic games were being embraced by the masses.
It struck him, Shiffman says, that two things he loved — toys and electronics — were about to forge an indelible match.
"I wish everyone could have an epiphany like this," he says.
In time, his twin passions led Shiffman to build, in separate phases of his career, two highly successful toy companies. The latest, Zizzle, scored a smashing victory in 2005, shortly after its creation, when it won coveted rights to make toys based on the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and any sequels. One toy Zizzle eventually developed, the Dead Man's Chest play set, was named one of the top toys of 2006 by the Toy Industry Association.
A shrewd and competitive businessman, Shiffman has nevertheless had to tap into a child's imagination to achieve his stature in the toy industry. And at 54, having survived a brain tumor, he's keenly aware that a sense of humor both enriches life and helps you navigate an industry geared to children.
"You're only young once," he says. "But you can be immature forever."
From the start of his career, Shiffman wanted to run his own shop. In 1978, with a partner, he created Tiger Electronics, which developed electronic handheld games. Among the high-tech toys it created was Furby, which ignited a public sensation. In three years, Tiger sold more than 41 million of the cuddly robotic toys that talked.
"I just found that I needed a break," he says.
For a time after he left Hasbro, Shiffman was subject to a non-compete pact, which barred him from working for a direct rival. Mainly, he played golf and did work for charitable groups.
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