This Friday's meeting of the Ohio Venture Association [1] is likely to be a sellout so make your reservations now!
The Union Club
1211 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio
Map and Driving Directions [2]
(free parking at The Union Club - enter garage off E. 12th St.) Price: Member: $25 with reservation/$35 without reservation
Non-member: $40 with reservation/$50 without reservation
Register online [3] using our secure registration form.
John Osher never went to class on a sunny day. In fact, he struggled through seven years of undergraduate work at three separate universities before graduating from Boston University with a degree in Psychology. John has never been hired to work for any company, nor has he ever been elected or appointed to any office of any kind. And yet, he has proven to be one of America's most successful entrepreneurs over the past twenty years. He did it simply by short circuiting the system, by starting all of his own businesses and appointing himself President since the age of five. Now that he is older, he prefers to appoint himself Chairman.
John is a "serial entrepreneur" who has developed literally hundreds of consumer products, from energy saving devices to baby products, to toys and candy, to household appliances. He has built and sold several successful businesses to major companies, and he is most popularly known as the guy who brought the "five dollar electric toothbrush" to the world. Launched as the SpinBrush, in only fifteen months, it became the top selling toothbrush in the country. He started the toothbrush company in 1999 with $1.5 million and sold the venture to Procter & Gamble only two years later at a record-breaking multiple for the industry.
John's other interests include philanthropy. He is both a Zenith Fellow of the National Alzheimer's Association and Board Member of University Hospitals of Cleveland. He is also very active in starting new ventures, speaking to current and future entrepreneurs, and regularly speaking at many of the top business schools across the country about what it take to become a successful entrepreneur.
The following are highlights of his career:
- Licensed plumber, carpenter, and taxi cab driver (1971-1978).
- CON-SERV INC. (1978-1985) - Sold to Gerber Foods in 1985.
- CAP TOYS (1988-1997) - Sold to Hasbro in 1997.
- DR. JOHN'S Spinbrush (1999-2001) - Sold to P&G (Crest brand) in 2001
- Saybrook Industries Ltd.'s The Dish Doctor (2002-2003) - Sold to P&G (Dawn dish soap brand) in 2003.
- Producer and Tony winner for Best Musical for Hairspray in 2003.
- Co-producer and/or backer (1990-Present) of Broadway and National road show productions of Hairspray, The Producers, Smokey Joe's Café and Big River.
- Producer of Little Shoppe of Horrors which opened on Broadway in October of 2003.