The Engineering Entrepreneur – Ep 81

Classicbot Toys – Philip Lee– Ep81 

Philip Lee is a self-taught toy designer from Hong Kong. He was an experienced advertising creative who always wanted to make his own toy. So, in December 2016 Philip started his own company Playsometoys, and debuted his first toy Classicbot Classic. 

The Classicbot looks like the old Macintosh computer from the ’80s, but with arms, legs and a face. His latest project is the iBoy which looks like the original iPod but also with arms, legs and so on.  

These toys do not function as a computer or music player but that was not his goal. He wanted to create a fun toy that looked like classic Apple products.  

The iBoy has some more functionality than the Classicbot Classic. The arms and legs are magnetic, and it has a chrome finish on the back. The parts are made by injection molding in ABS plastic.  

Philip did a lot of the design work himself using Cinema 4D. Then his factory would take his files and refine them for final production. 

Philip’s top tips:  

For people who work on getting out their first thing:  

1. When you create something, it needs to be something that you feel attached to 
2. It’s a long process, you have to stick with it for a long time for it to be successful 
3. Your passion will resonate with other people 
4. Promotion: social media is a must-have for anyone who wants to start their own brand 
5. Running Facebook ads is a good idea 
6. Doing simple PR with influencers in the niche 

Contact info: 

1. https://www.facebook.com/classicbot/ 
2. https://www.instagram.com/classicbot_toy/ 
3. https://twitter.com/Classicbot_toy 
4. email: [email protected] 
5. https://classicbot.com/ 

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at [email protected] 

Follow me on Twitter/Instagram @caddesignhelp