Ever had a great idea that you thought just had to be brought to life?  Learn how Ed Boland took a problem he saw as a parent and turned it into a startup that's been validated with a successful Kickstarter campaign AND real customers.

Ed is the Co-Founder, alongside his wife, of Whimzy Entertainment, a brand focused on bringing joy, creativity, and learning to children in a way that reinforces positives values.  The company’s first brand is the HeroBoy line of toys and comic books - now, these are physical products, their brands have potential to be scaled into technology products as well.  They recently launched a successful campaign on Kickstarter and were selected as one of 10 startups to join Venture Hive’s recent accelerator class.

We covered a lot of ground Including - how he went from finance & venture capital to launching a startup by tackling a problem that he faced as a parent.

What it takes to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign and how to use that as validation for your idea

What he observed in Will Weinraub and Live Ninja’s culture that led him and his VC team at Scout ventures to invest

What Ed calls the 3 R’s that everyone entrepreneur needs to have

The importance of story when it comes to communicating your business.

Ed has experienced entrepreneurship both as a VC and in the trenches as an entrepreneur himself.  This is one of my favorite episodes to date - I love what his company is doing for the world and in representing Miami - I think you’ll get a lot out of it.

Getting started as an entrepreneur

2:30 - How he first got involved in the Miami entrepreneurship scene

3:30 - How HeroBoys came to be and the internal debate to go out on his own

8:00 - Biggest fears with the startup

Business lessons & challenges

9:15 - How the company generates revenue

10:15 - Why Kickstarter was important to them & how to launch a successful campaign there

12:30 - Why every company now is a tech company

15:45 - Biggest challenges at the moment

Experience as a VC

18:00 - What made startups stand out to him and his VC firm, including Live Ninja

19:15 - What Will has done to build a great culture at Live Ninja

Closing questions

22:00 - Pros and cons of Miami to launch a startup

23:45 - Best advice he’s received

24:15 - Habits/routines that keep him making progress

25:15 - Book recommendations

26:30 - What he’d do with $500 to spend to build a business if he were new to Miami and didn’t know anyone

Mentioned in this episode

The Hard Thing About Hard Things 

Creativity, Inc

Pixar

Will Weinraub and Live Ninja

Brian Breslin and Refresh Miami

Hero Boys - Instagram, Facebook, Twitter