How Tony Hawk Built A Billion Dollar Empire

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. 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