Loyola Marymount MBA Grad Raises Cash on Kickstarter
Stephen Walden, a 24-year-old graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s MBA program, raised over $61,700 from 440 supporters over the course of his 42-day Kickstarter campaign to produce ergonomically designed flat head, spade, and snow shovels manufactured by his new company, Bosse Tools. “People are excited to get these shovels. Folks using them say they have a hard time going back to traditional tools, and I believe it’s simply because we redesigned one of the world’s oldest devices,” asserted Walden. “Nobody’s ever done this before.”
While pursuing his MBA in Finance at Loyola Marymount, Walden was among the first students to participate in the university’s Business Incubator Lab, an entrepreneurship program led by Professor David Choi. “The incubator is a new program at LMU and Dr. Choi encouraged us to get a product into the hands of the people,” explained Walden. Walden and his team have won several titles and around $25,000 in prize money at countless collegiate business competitions, including the International Business Model Competition at Harvard University in May 2013.
“Most of my fellow MBA majors were busy looking for jobs as graduation approached last spring,” stated Walden. “I was busy looking for manufacturers and putting together a business plan for my own company. Some people thought I was crazy to throw myself into this full time instead of looking for a job. I’ve been working full-time, seven days a week on nothing else but Bosse Tools for the past five months to get to this point,” said Walden. “Running a Kickstarter absolutely feels like a full-time job, it demands a lot of time, energy, and finesse. I have been stressed, nervous and anxious, even lost quite a bit of sleep during my campaign, but the hard work has paid off and I am excited to move to the next step.”
