Buckyballs vs. The United States of America

"We coulda been a Lego! We coulda been a Rubik's Cube!"

Instead, Craig Zucker is in a shared workspace in Brooklyn, N.Y., hanging on. It's like a bad dream: He's no longer selling Buckyballs—the tiny magnetic desk toys that did $40 million in sales in just four years. Instead, the 34-year-old is selling Liberty Balls, chestnut-size magnets that are weaker, lamer and much less lucrative. His trendy Manhattan office is gone, and so are all his employees, save one. The two of them rent this cube inside a former warehouse.