John Osher

John Osher is a serial entrepreneur who has developed hundreds of consumer products, including energy saving devices, baby products, toys and candy, and household appliances. He has built and sold several successful businesses to Fortune 500 companies and is most popularly known as the businessman who brought the “five dollar electric toothbrush” to the world. The SpinBrush became the top selling toothbrush in the country in only fifteen months. He started the toothbrush venture in 1999 with $1.5mm and sold the company in 2001 to Procter and Gamble for $475 million dollars.

John looks for huge opportunities in the marketplace that are so obvious that it’s hard to believe they don’t exist yet. His newest venture, Capture (capture.com), is a perfect example: News is happening all day, everyday. There are almost 2 billion smartphone cameras capturing photos and videos of events as they’re happening. But there’s no way for the news media to request and receive this coverage in real-time. From that realization, he formed Capture. Capture is the first and only two-way platform that directly connects news media publishers to smartphone camera users anywhere around the world for real-time media coverage. Capture aims to revolutionize the way news media is covered.

In addition to building businesses, John has also successfully produced several Broadway shows. He won Tony awards for the Best Musical as a producer of Broadway smash hits Hairspray and The Jersey Boys. He co-produced such hits as The Producers, Smokey Joe’s Café and Big River.

John's is also a frequent public speaker and active philanthropist. He speaks annually at The Harvard Business School, Wharton, and The Kellogg School of Management. John is Co-Chairman of the Zenith Fellows for Alzheimer's research and a board member of the National Alzheimer's Association; amongst several charities he supports. John continues to be very active in starting new ventures, and speaking to and meeting with current and future entrepreneurs.

John Osher case study - http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6674.html