Built for Our Son, Loved by Thousands— But We Need Your Help

Hi! It's Courtney, and I'm here to say, we need help.

My husband, Daniel, and I own Solobo Toys. From the outside, it may seem like we're a big team, but it's really just me, Daniel, and a few contractors who help us a few hours a week on various admin tasks. Solobo is our only source of income, and that means we wear all the hats.

We started this company back in 2022, and the main reason was for our youngest son, who has cerebral palsy. Medical bills are expensive, and we knew we needed to find a way to creatively make money so that we could be the ones to be with him full-time and ensure all bills were paid so he could have what he needed. We didn't want to just start a company with no meaning. We wanted to start something that we knew would also help other people. Fast forward to today, we've helped thousands of families and kids, and it truly is the best job in the world.

But it's not without its challenges. We announced at the end of last year that we were no longer going to be able to produce some of our most popular toys due to the tariffs. Those products include Emotional Baggage, Emotions Coin Drop, Learn & Drop, Spin & Drop, both my books, and our puzzles. We chose to pivot and start producing toys in the US with 3D printers. Going into it, we knew that we were going to need a lot of capital to effectively produce the number of toys we'd need to continue to make a living for our family. We managed to get a few printers to begin with and launched a few toys (which people love). We hope to be able to produce our other toys again soon, but there's a lot that we need to figure out before that can happen. In a perfect world, we'd manufacture them all here, but that would take a lot of money to pull off.

But now, we're moving back near family so that we can have help. We're moving into a small apartment and really need to find a small workspace that will allow us to put our printers in a spot that has proper ventilation so we don't put our family at risk. We need a space, more printers, more materials, more boxes, additional equipment, and so on.

For the past few months, we've been trying to raise $1 million in an investment round, but it's been a rocky road because so many investors are impacted by all the market shifts, too. Our Wefunder campaign has gained some pledges, but nothing that we can actually access. It's all just pledges. (You have to make it to $50,000 in order to officially start raising money on the platform, which we haven't been able to do.)

We've had so many hurdles over the last year and a half, but we've kept pressing forward for two reasons. The first is that our son is in such a good place, and we've been able to have a flexible schedule so that either Daniel or I can be with him at all times and give him everything he needs. Something that a traditional job never allowed. The second is because of how many messages we regularly get from customers about how beneficial our toys have been for them.

We know that times are really hard for so many, which is why we're only asking you for $1. We've seen how much money can be raised with $1 donations. We wouldn't be asking if it weren't necessary. We've done everything in our power to avoid asking, but here we are.

If you have the means to donate $1, we would be so thankful. If you're not in the position to donate, consider sharing this GoFundMe with a friend or on social media. Or if you know of any investors, send them our way, too. Anything helps. We really appreciate it.

With great appreciation,

Courtney and Daniel Peebles