Carey Smith: Big Ass Fans — The case for really listening to your customers
In Episode 33, Ross is joined by Carey Smith, founder and ex-Chief Big Ass of Big Ass Fans and Founding Contrarian of Unorthodox Ventures. A career entrepreneur, Carey Smith founded Big Ass Fans in 1999 and served as its CEO, or Chief Big Ass for 18 years. His contrarian business practices and relentless pursuit of new markets and high-quality products led to sustained, rapid growth. After selling Big Ass Fans for $500 million, Carey founded Unorthodox Ventures to provide everything investment firms lacked. Ross and Carey discuss how he built the Big Ass Fans brand, the advantage of building for your customers, and the areas where conventional VC firms fall short. Carey's relentless pursuit of quality, doing simple things right, and focussing on your customers is an insider’s perspective in building a company that can achieve sustainable growth.