Elon Musk, Caterina Fake, and more on their beloved childhood playthings.

By Jill Krasny, Freelance writer@jillkrasny

Quiz: Can You Guess These Innovators' Favorite Childhood Toys?

What were the beloved childhood playthings of these successful innovators? See if you can guess.

From the June 2014 issue of Inc. magazine

Sponsored Business Content Dianomi logo

","inc_canonical_url":null,"inc_meta_keywords":null,"inc_tags":null,"inc_column_name_override":null,"inc_newsworthyflag":false,"inc_notepad":"courtesy company clockwise from top left: aidan crawley/getty; ilya s. savenok/getty; lucy nicholson/corbis; corbis; David Yellen; David Arky/getty; istock (3); getty t\r\n\r\n***\r\n\r\nWhat were the beloved childhood playthings of these successful innovators? See if you can guess.\r\n\r\nTony Fadell -- Nest\r\n\r\nHayley Barna -- Birchbox \r\n\r\nElon Musk Tesla and SpaceX\r\n\r\nDaniel Ek Spotify\r\n\r\nCaterina Fake -- Flickr, Findery, and Hunch\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n1. Building remote-control airplanes. It was a mini crash course in aircraft design.\r\n\r\n2. Rockets. Who didn't want to be an astronaut in the 1970s? The dream of going to space inspired me to figure out how to design and build each successive rocket bigger, to go higher and higher.\r\n\r\n3. Legos. The creative possibilities are endless. That's been my mantra ever since. \r\n\r\n4. A little bead loom for stringing teeny beads into intricate jewelry designs. Not only were there many possibilities, with infinite combinations of colors, but organization, follow-through, and patience were absolutely necessary.\r\n\r\n5. I came from an \"unpainted wooden toys\" kind of family. We had Legos and board games. But the best was when we made stuff up ourselves, constructing forts, recording radio shows, and putting on plays. Working together to build something was magical.\r\n\r\nAnswers: 1-Elon Musk, 2-Tony Fadell, 3-Daniel Ek, 4-Hayley Barna, 5-Caterina Fake","inc_track_changesflag":false,"inc_cta_text":null,"inc_cta_url":null,"time_updated":"2020-02-06 11:53:24","channels":[{"id":5,"cnl_name":"Technology","cnl_filelocation":"technology","cnl_featuretype":"None","cnl_custom_color":null,"cnl_calculated_color":"9DC786","cnl_contributor_accessflag":true,"cnl_custom_article_footer":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_color":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_gradient_start":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_gradient_end":null,"cnl_iflid":0,"sortorder":null},{"id":7,"cnl_name":"Innovate","cnl_filelocation":"innovate","cnl_featuretype":"None","cnl_custom_color":"9DC786","cnl_calculated_color":null,"cnl_contributor_accessflag":true,"cnl_custom_article_footer":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_color":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_gradient_start":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_gradient_end":null,"cnl_iflid":0,"sortorder":1},{"id":410,"cnl_name":"Design","cnl_filelocation":"design","cnl_featuretype":"None","cnl_custom_color":null,"cnl_calculated_color":"9DC786","cnl_contributor_accessflag":true,"cnl_custom_article_footer":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_color":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_gradient_start":null,"cnl_global_nav_background_gradient_end":null,"cnl_iflid":0,"sortorder":2}],"categories":[],"primarychannelarray":null,"authors":[{"id":3493,"aut_name":"Jill Krasny","aut_usrid":419110,"aut_base_filelocation":"jill-krasny","aut_imgid":25960,"aut_twitter_id":"jillkrasny","aut_title":"Freelance writer","aut_blurb":"Jill Krasny is a writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, The Financial Times and Travel + Leisure. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California.","aut_footer_blurb":"Jill Krasny is a writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, The Financial Times and Travel + Leisure. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California.","aut_column_name":null,"aut_atyid":5,"aut_newsletter_location":null,"authorimage":"https://www.incimages.com/uploaded_files/image/100x100/Jill-Krasny-800x800_25960_25960.jpg","sortorder":null,"aut_custom_scripts":"","typeName":"Other"}],"images":[{"id":37068,"sortorder":null}],"inlineimages":[],"photoEssaySlides":null,"readMoreArticles":null,"slideshows":[],"videos":[],"bzwidgets":null,"relatedarticles":null,"comparisongrids":[],"products":[],"keys":["Bobbie Gossage","Technology","Innovate","Design","Jill Krasny","Other"],"meta_description":"Elon Musk, Caterina Fake, and more on their beloved childhood playthings.","brandview":null,"internationalversion":[],"imagemodels":[{"id":37068,"img_foreignkey":null,"img_gettyflag":false,"img_reusableflag":false,"img_rightsflag":false,"img_usrid":0,"img_pan_crop":null,"img_tags":null,"img_reference_name":"innovation quiz june 2014","img_caption":null,"img_custom_credit":null,"img_bucketref":null,"img_panoramicref":"innovation-quiz.jpg","img_super_panoramicref":null,"img_tile_override_imageref":null,"img_skyscraperref":null,"img_gallery_imageref":null,"credit":null,"sizes":{"panoramic":{"original":"uploaded_files/image/innovation-quiz.jpg","1920x1080":"uploaded_files/image/1920x1080/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","1024x576":"uploaded_files/image/1024x576/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","1230x1672":"uploaded_files/image/1230x1672/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","1940x900":"uploaded_files/image/1940x900/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","1270x734":"uploaded_files/image/1270x734/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","0x734":"uploaded_files/image/0x734/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","1150x540":"uploaded_files/image/1150x540/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","970x450":"uploaded_files/image/970x450/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","600x600":"uploaded_files/image/600x600/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","640x290":"uploaded_files/image/640x290/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","635x367":"uploaded_files/image/635x367/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","0x367":"uploaded_files/image/0x367/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","575x270":"uploaded_files/image/575x270/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","385x240":"uploaded_files/image/385x240/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","336x336":"uploaded_files/image/336x336/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","300x520":"uploaded_files/image/300x520/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","300x200":"uploaded_files/image/300x200/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","284x160":"uploaded_files/image/284x160/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","155x90":"uploaded_files/image/155x90/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","100x100":"uploaded_files/image/100x100/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg","50x50":"uploaded_files/image/50x50/innovation-quiz_37068.jpg"}}}],"formatted_text":"","adinfo":{"c_type":"formattedarticle","showlogo":true,"cms":"inc57695","video":"no","aut":["jill-krasny"],"channelArray":{"topid":"410","topfilelocation":"design","primary":["innovate","innovate","tech"],"primaryFilelocation":["innovate","innovate","technology"],"primaryname":["Innovate","Innovate","Technology"],"sub":["design"],"subFilelocation":["design"],"subname":["Design"]},"adzone":"/4160/mv.inc/innovate/design/design"},"seriesname":null,"editorname":"Bobbie Gossage","commentcount":null,"inc5000companies":[],"inc5000list":{"id":null,"ifl_list":null,"ifl_year":null,"ifl_custom_data_description":null,"ifl_filelocation":null,"ifl_sharetext":null,"ifl_data_endpoint":null,"ifl_columns":null,"ifl_column_custom_names":null,"ifl_filters_per_row":null,"ifl_rows_per_page":null,"ifl_filter_columns":null,"ifl_filter_sorts":null,"ifl_permanently_hidden_columns":null,"ifl_extra_large_hidden_columns":null,"ifl_large_hidden_columns":null,"ifl_medium_hidden_columns":null,"ifl_small_hidden_columns":null,"ifl_extra_small_hidden_columns":null,"ifl_currency":null,"ifl_enable_accent_rule_topflag":false,"ifl_enable_accent_rule_bottomflag":false,"ifl_table_accent_rule_color":null,"ifl_table_header_background_color":null,"ifl_table_rank_color":null,"ifl_table_header_text_color":null,"ifl_table_row_stripe_color":null,"ifl_enable_filterflag":false,"ifl_filter_background_color":null,"ifl_filter_dropdown_border_color":null,"ifl_filter_dropdown_text_color":null,"ifl_enable_pagination_topflag":false,"ifl_enable_pagination_bottomflag":false,"ifl_pagination_bar_color":null,"ifl_filter_reset_button_color":null,"ifl_filter_reset_button_border_color":null,"ifl_methodology":null,"ifl_pubdate":null,"ifl_default_sort":null,"companylist":null,"companylist_year":null},"companies":[],"buyerzonewidgets":[],"photoEssaySlideModels":null,"custom_article_footer":null,"ser_footer_blurb":null,"dayssincepubdate":3050,"trackingpixel":"","promotions":null,"channelCustomFooter":{"cnl_id":"","cnl_footer":""},"lists":[],"rawDate":"Fri, 30 May 2014 11:00:00 -0400","paragraphCount":1,"inline_script_tags":[]},"recirc":{"articles":[]}}],"isFetching":false,"isFetched":true,"error":null},"events":{"events":[],"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"magazine":{"magazine":{},"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"editPackage":{"editPackage":{},"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"quoteCollection":{"quoteCollection":{},"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"applyPage":{"applypage":{},"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"podcast":{"podcast":[],"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"navMenu":{"sidebar":[],"nav":[],"categories":[],"subscribe":{},"social":[],"help":[],"alternates":[],"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"promotions":{"promotions":{},"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"incmasters":{"incmasters":[],"isFetching":false,"isFetched":false,"error":null},"request":{"userSegment":19,"initialView":"TRUE"}};

Subscribe

Subscribe

Quiz: Can You Guess These Innovators' Favorite Childhood Toys?

Elon Musk, Caterina Fake, and more on their beloved childhood playthings.