In 1987, two postal workers from Virginia, USA, Tom Coleman and Bill Schlot, happened to see a child holding a glow stick that emitted a green light. Unlike other adults who might have simply smiled and passed by, they immediately began pondering: this thing looks interesting, but what could it be used for? The two men started brainstorming wildly. Eventually, they latched onto a brilliant idea—placing a lollipop on top of the glow stick. This way, the light would pass through the translucent candy, creating a magical effect, which was even more striking at night.
The two subsequently applied for a patent and sold their "glowing lollipop" patent to the American company Cap Candy.
This was merely the prelude to a legend. The two postal workers continued to think: licking a lollipop is tiring; after a while, the candy isn't finished yet, but the child's jaw is already sore. Wouldn't it be easier and more fun if the lollipop could rotate by itself? So they added a rotating stand to the lollipop, powered by a battery-driven small motor that turned the candy via a small gear.
The result was the huge success of the spinning lollipop. Sold through supermarkets and vending machines, this little 2.99-dollar item sold a total of 60 million units over the six years from 1993 to 1999.
John Osher, leader of Cap Candy, picked up this magical "rotating baton" and created an even greater miracle. After Cap Candy was acquired, he left the company and began searching for new problems that could be solved using the rotating motor technology.
He and his friends went to a local Walmart supermarket for inspiration. As they passed the product shelves, they saw numerous brands of electric toothbrushes, each priced at over 50 dollars. They also learned that due to the high price, sales of electric toothbrushes were very low. But if they used their lollipop-spinning technology, manufacturing an electric toothbrush would cost only 5 dollars.
Thus, the best-selling rotating toothbrush in the US market was born, even outselling traditional toothbrushes. In just one year, 20xx, Osher's team sold 10 million of these toothbrushes. This made the executives at Procter & Gamble (P&G) uneasy—their electric toothbrushes were too expensive and had almost no competitiveness compared to Osher's 5-dollar toothbrush. P&G therefore sent a senior manager to negotiate with Osher. After haggling, in January 20xx, P&G decided to acquire the small company. The specific terms were: P&G would first pay a 165 million dollar advance payment, and the three founders, led by Osher, would continue working at P&G for the next three years.
However, P&G terminated the contract with the three men 21 months early because the multinational corporation found the rotating electric toothbrush was selling far better than expected. This product, sold through Walmart, reached 35 countries worldwide and became the fastest-selling product sweeping the global market. This meant that the amount P&G would have to pay Osher and his partners after the contract ended would far exceed expectations.
Finally, Osher and his two partners received a lump sum of 310 million dollars. Adding the initial 165 million dollar advance payment, the total came to 475 million dollars—a staggering astronomical figure that left the inventors dizzy. Yet, it all began with a small green glow stick found on the roadside.