Founded in 1998, Mike Becker created a small company that ended up transforming the toy industry, and pop culture worldwide.
Mike Becker , the original founder of Funko began describing his journey with a throwback in the past, how his friends introduced him to pop culture and toys, and how it became his way of having fun. In a matter of time Mike came up with the idea of starting his own company, a company that will be made out of passion, as he started to list ideas and look for inspiration, Mike found his ‘eureka’ moment while staring at the display of a toy store named ‘Sparkys’.
Mike searched for possible opportunities, he knew his product would succeed as it only need to see the light of the day, Funko’s First product was the Big-boy bubble-heads, as it sold fast, This was the begging of an undiscovered demand as bubble-heads became the addiction of demanding fans.
Mike made sure that passion and urge of having fun was the core of his company, as the name Funko stands for ‘Fun company’.
The company started to grow fast, as Mike did not hesitate to expand; he introduced new lines of bubble-heads, satisfying the market demand. Mike was certain that out there, people share the same passion and love he had for comics and bubble-heads, and that what keep him going. Funko allowed fans to relive their childhood, reliving the memories of cartoons in the past.
Mike’s started to create his own original product by just having fun, creating what he called “weird stuff that we liked”.
As Funko’s fan base started to grow, his fan mail started to fill up, as the CFO ( Chairman of fun) Mike made sure to spread Funko’s fun vibes through his fan base, Mike created the BOF (Box of fun) that he started sending out to fans, without knowing , Mike has created a more loyal fan-base. Mike knew that fans shared the same passion as his, and that is what gave his company the power to influence in the pop-culture and toys industry.
Moreover, Mike build his company out of the need to live out his fantasies and goals, to be able to share them with those who share the same passion of his. However, after almost seven years of hard work, in 2005, Mike has reached the point where he wanted to face new challenges.
Mike made sure that if the day comes for him to hand over the company to someone else, he will not hand over his life work to a random person, but to someone who shares the same passion of his, to keep up Funko’s spirit and vibes.
This person was ‘ Brain Mariotti’ Funko’s current CEO who were a collector himself, 
brain has observed Mike’s for the past years, he knew he had to prove himself, as he was giving the chance to work with what he loves the most was enough motivation for him.
Brain took Funko into new directions, with a vision that Mike did not really have. He builds on that foundation and took it to places that no one but he could have imagined. As Brain first leadership decision was to introduce a new product line that differed from the bubblehead character that funko was originally know of, his new products were more statues in nature but they still included the details of funkos originals.
The addiction of Funko has lead to creating a community of fans who are passionate of these toys, 
as friendship started to grow between collectors they share the love of these little toys and the love of having the feeling of being kids again. Love and passion these toys brought to fans was the source of value of these products, as fans were willing to spend their money in order to ‘ make them feel happy’.
Mike is one of the best examples of entrepreneurship, as entrepreneurship was explain as “entrepreneurship means being able to take action and having the courage to commit and persevere through all of the challenges and failures. It is a struggle that an entrepreneur is willing to battle. It is using past experiences and intelligence to make smart decisions. Entrepreneurs are able to transform their vision into a business.”- MJ Pedone, founder and CEO of Indra public relation.
Mike’s became an entrepreneur the moment he stepped up and started a company based only on his passion , as the entrepreneur he is , his person and business goals were inextricably linked, the goals was ‘ to have fun and share his passion’.
As entrepreneurs build their businesses to fulfill a personal goals, Mike created his company in propose of living out his fantasies and being able to share them. As Mike made it sound easy to sell out innovative product, it is actually hard to grow an innovative business in an already existing industry filled with competitors. Mike’s entrepreneurship changed the industry, it rised a new demand and need that was not discovered before, as new fans called “Funko made Pop culture a cool thing”, they change the product positing in the consumers mind.
He started with nothing but an idea, and organized the resources that were necessary to transform that idea into a real life business. He took the risks and he did not just look for opportunities, he created them!
Furthermore, as some might argue the he is not, I find Brain is another successful entrepreneur, he may not have created the company for just an idea, but he took a foundation and built to it, as said earlier; brain took Funko’s to new directions with his own vision, that no one but he could have achieved. He introduced new product that did not exist in the market before, he managed the company through his passion just like Mike, and took a lot of risks in the way, but he was determined that by passion and creativity Funko will rise even more.
Bibliography:
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MATT HEYWOOD, (2011), bobble-heads review [ONLINE]. Available at: http:/ /www.entertainmentbuddha.com/blog/wp-content /uploads /2011/03/IMAG0034.jpg [Accessed 19 October 2018].
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Clark, D. (2018). A Brief History of Funko. [online] News.entertainmentearth.com. Available at: https://news.entertainmentearth.com/2018/01/22/history-funko/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2018].
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Out of my box 