Founders · May 3The Biography of Walt Disney
Walt Disney treated excellence as his only strategy, refused to sell the studio after Steamboat Willie, and trained over a thousand artists himself. Snow White spawned 2,183 products, and Mickey merchandise sold about $70 million in its first year in 1934 dollars.
Tips
- Walt Disney made excellence his only business strategy and refused to compromise on quality▶ 43:35Warren Buffett used Disney as the example of a brand with something special in customers' minds, unlike Universal or 20th Century Fox.
- Walt Disney refused to sell his studio even when he badly needed revenue▶ 43:15He stayed independent and went on to build a multimedia empire that outlived him.
- Walt Disney bet everything, including Mickey Mouse, on the first feature-length animated film▶ 1:08:58Snow White spawned 2,183 products, including 16.5 million drinking glasses, and a 1990s video release sold over 20 million copies.
- Walt Disney lost Oswald and his studio by signing away rights to his own characters▶ 39:00On the train home with no characters, no contract and no staff, he began drawing the mouse who became Mickey.
- Walt Disney saw merchandise earned more than the films and hired one man to run it▶ 59:40Within a year there were 40 Mickey licenses and $35 million in US sales plus an equal amount overseas, about $70 million in 1934 dollars.
- Walt Disney trained his own talent instead of hiring experienced animators▶ 45:27The letters drew 30,000 applicants over the next decade, and Disney himself trained over a thousand artists.
- Walt Disney built a cult of excellence by telling employees they were an elite team▶ 46:28One employee said they felt like the elite class at West Point, and another said they hated to go home at night.
- Walt Disney reinvented himself by moving into animation, a field he could dominate▶ 22:05He compared to Edwin Land's motto of not doing anything someone else can do.
- Walt Disney previewed the first sound cartoon for an audience despite criticism from other animators▶ 42:00He financed it with mortgages and second mortgages on his and Roy's houses and by selling his car.
- Walt Disney refused to make Three Little Pigs sequels and kept a reminder in his hat▶ 1:21:45This restlessness pushed him from shorts to features, television and finally Disneyland.
- Walt Disney learned he never wins with bankers and tried to control his own money▶ 1:18:40He fought bankers, unions and wartime government control, which took 75 to 94 percent of studio output.
- Walt Disney's perfectionism drove industry innovation but also broke his health and delegation▶ 51:30Other animators said almost every tool they used originated at the Disney Studio.
