How Carey Smith Made $500,000,000 Through Selling Fans (And Sarcasm)

Carey Smith is the founder of Big Ass Fans that sold in 2017 for 500 Million Dollars. Today we discuss how he built, bootstrapped, and exited the company - where he wrote 50 million dollars of checks as bonuses to his loyal employees!

Contrarian entrepreneur Carey Smith founded Big Ass Fans in 1999 and served as its “Chief Big Ass” for 18 years. While other companies made and lost their fortunes, Carey’s business practices led to sustained, rapid growth averaging 30% annually. Inc. magazine ranked Big Ass Fans among America’s fastest-growing private companies for 11 years straight — a feat achieved by only 34 others.

Carey has earned national recognition for his common-sense business philosophies, such as selling direct, investing in silver-platter customer service and paying employees more than 30% above the U.S. average. Inc. named him “Economy Hero” in 2011 for refusing to lay off employees during the Great Recession.

By 2017, Carey had grown Big Ass Fans from six employees to more than a thousand and generated nearly $300 million in annual sales. He did so without investors, a rarity in a society that glamorizes venture capital and quick exits. That year, he sold the company for $500 million with $50 million going right into employees’ pockets.

Following the sale, Carey founded Unorthodox Ventures. He assembled a staff experienced in everything from engineering and supply chain to marketing and customer service with the goal of providing founders far more than money.

https://unorthodoxventures.com/members/carey-smith/

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