Thought Leaders
This CEO-Turned-Investor, Who Sold His Company For $500 Million, Thinks Founders Should Stop Giving Up So Much Equity. Here’s Why.
Giving the good stuff away will only hurt you in the long run.
Carey Smith
Founder, Unorthodox Ventures
Career entrepreneur Carey Smith founded Big Ass Fans (BAF) in 1999, bootstrapping it for almost two decades to nearly $300 million in annual sales. In 2017, Carey sold the company for $500 million to a private equity firm. Having no interest in retiring, and ready to take on a new challenge, he founded Unorthodox Ventures (UV). UV is the kind of investment firm Carey wished had courted him instead of the VC and PE firms that focused solely on returns and raising their next fund.
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