January 11, 2024

How Tony Hawk Built A Billion Dollar Empire

59 minutes

We interviewed the legendary Tony Hawk, who started skateboarding at 10 years old in 1978 before turning his brand into one that's rumored to be worth over $1 billion dollars according to CNBC with the success of his Tony Hawk Pro Skater games on Playstation, N64, PC, and more. In this episode, Tony talks about how he made the game, built his business, and helped revolutionize the sport of skateboarding by landing the 900 and bringing the sport to the Olympics.

Thank you to Prize Picks for sponsoring this episode, see link here and use code "Danny": https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/DANNY

Available on all major podcast platforms:

Spotify: podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/happyendingspod

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-endings/id1720122256

About The Hosts:

Danny Duncan is a top YouTuber with 7M+ subscribers and $150M+ in merch sales. He's also the co-owner of the popular frozen yogurt chain 16 Handles, founder of Good Sport, and Danny's Cream Pies.

Jon Youshaei worked inside Instagram and YouTube for 8 years where he was Head of Creator Product Marketing before becoming a creator and journalist for Forbes, TIME, and more.

Danny's Channel: https://www.YouTube.com/@danny

Jon's Channel: https://www.YouTube.com/youshaei

0:00 - 0:48 Intro

0:49 - 2:14 Tony’s early skating days

2:15 - 4:09 Danny started out stretching athletes

4:10 - 7:45 Tony’s early skating days (cont.)

7:46 - 9:21 Working on the first Tony Hawk game

9:22 - 11:53 Tony Hawk becoming a brand

11:54 - 14:15 What is was like making a game in the 90’s

14:16 - 15:59 Tony said no to 500 million dollars

16:00 - 16:40 Tony Hawk game sequels

16:41 - 17:51 The Loop

17:52 - 18:39 Tony’s first skateboard is in the Smithsonian

18:40 - 19:15 Prize Picks

19:16 - 21:04 Tony’s Legacy

21:05 - 23:10 Tony’s day to day

21:11 - 25:46 Femur injury

25:47 - 27:30 Taking care of your body as you get older

27:31 - 29:21 Tony’s kid is a skateboarder

29:22 - 30:18 Tony’s dad and the X Games

30:19 - 36:02 Getting skateboarding into the Olympics

36:03 - 37:37 Who Tony wants to work with

37:38 - 38:02 Biggest thing Tony has turned down

38:03 - 40:27 Tony being recognized in public

40:28 - 41:55 Meeting people you look up to

41:56 - 42:51 Danny tried getting in contact of Tony Hawk before

42:52 - 44:35 Tony Hawk on social media

44:36 - 45:35 Giving your younger self advice

45:36 - 47:10 Tony Hawk invented a lot of tricks

47:11 - 48:52 Tony Hawk on Jackass

48:53 - 58:11 Tony completing the 900

58:12 - 58:24 The future of Skateboarding tricks

58:25 - 59:35 Outro

#HappyEndings #DannyDuncan #JonYoushaei #HappyEndingsPodcast #tonyhawk

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By Danny Duncan and Jon Youshaei

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