How do you mint 15 new millionaires over night? Carey Smith of Big Ass Fans knows how. He committed to growing his industrial fan company for as long as it took, until he was certain that his most hardworking employees could also become rich from the sale of his company. That meant waiting until he could sell it for $500 million, giving away 10% of that to his team.
Carey doesn't like to call himself an entrepreneur. He's been creating businesses since he was a teenager, and it's simply part of who he is - it was never going to be any other way. Still, when you listen to his story you start to understand how his background shaped his thinking, and how someone with no experience managing a team was able to successfully lead a company of over 1,000 employees.
In this episode we discuss how he came up with his business idea, uncovering a massive opportunity that would lead to owning more than 75% of the entire market he worked in. We also dig into the day to day of his work as CEO, and his relentless attention to detail when it came to his tribe of employees and his customers.
Carey has done many interviews over the years, including a feature on PBS, but the stories you'll hear on this episode will not be found anywhere else.
