FUNKO Could Be Everett’s Coolest Workplace

FUNKO is not a toy company, they’re a collectible company. The number one collectible company in the world. You might think the only thing going on in those big warehouses in southwest Everett is aerospace manufacturing but it’s not.

Thursday, MyEverettNews.com was able to join Congressman Rick Larsen for a tour of FUNKO. Started in a garage by Mike Becker in 1998 the company’s first product was a Bob’s Big Boy. It’s first big hit was an Austin Powers collectible figure.

Becker sold the company in 2005 to current CEO Brian Mariotti. In 2014 FUNKO moved from a 50,000 square foot warehouse in Lynnwood to a 220,000 square foot facility in southwest Everett. Recently they’ve signed a lease on an additional 100,000 square feet a mile north of their current facility. They’ve gone from 40 employees in 2013 to to more than 200 today.

All of the creative, product development, sales and marketing work is done in Everett with manufacturing contracted to vendors in China, Vietnam and Mexico. Warehousing and fulfillment are also handled in Everett. The company has seen triple digit growth year to year over the past three years and continues to hire to staff its growth in Everett. You can click here to see current openings.

FUNKO has hundreds of licenses and makes thousands of products with worldwide distribution. With everything from Marvel and DC Comics to Disney, the NFL and even TV’s The Golden Girls, we wondered if there is any character they don’t make? “Bond…James Bond,” said CEO Brian Mariotti. “It’s one license we’ve been trying to get for years.”

Mariotti went on to say that more than half of their customer base is female and while you might think the hard core comic book action figure collector would be their number one customer, the market is much broader than that. “You can buy a dozen Pop! Vinyl figures for the cost of one specialty figure,” he said. “We do pop culture collectibles and it’s a huge market.”

The ideas for collectibles come from all over. TV, Movies and pop culture in general. Also all of the employees from the warehouse to the executive offices are encouraged to contribute suggestions. Even the UPS driver will stop in and say…”did you hear about?” and the folks at FUNKO get another idea to explore.

Funko has not had trouble getting people to come to work in Everett. The CFO commutes from Seattle, the director of marketing lives in Northgate and marketing manager Yoko McCann commutes from Tukwila. “I wouldn’t make this commute if this wasn’t such a fun place to work,” said McCann. “I get to be around passionate, creative people both here as employees and also with our customers worldwide.”

As far as Congressman Larsen’s thoughts at the end of the tour. “It’s pretty cool seeing hundreds of smart, creative people in Everett making products that make people happy all over the world,” said Larsen.