From Police Officer to 7-Figure Exit: Eddie Whittingham’s No-BS Guide

In this episode of Launchbase, John Radford sits down with Eddie Whittingham—ex-police officer, lawyer, and tech entrepreneur. Eddie bootstrapped The Defense Works, a cybersecurity training company, and successfully exited to Proofpoint, a NASDAQ-listed firm. Now, he’s building Ministry of Work, a premium co-working space for ambitious founders.

They discuss:

✅ Bootstrapping to exit—what worked and what didn’t
✅ The role of luck vs. hard work in startup success
✅ Why most online training is terrible—and how Eddie made it better
✅ The reality of selling a business—how Proofpoint found him through LinkedIn
✅ Why founder networks matter more than ever