How This Fan Company Is Proving It Has More Than Just a Good Name Big Ass Fans shows big-time growth.

Many executives are fond of boasting that their companies are more like a family than a business. But not the founder of Big Ass Solutions. His company is a tribe, says chief big ass Carey Smith—and yes, that's actually his title. "It's on my business card," he proclaims proudly.

Smith started Lexington, Ky.-based Big Ass Solutions, which produces products under the Big Ass Fans and Big Ass Light brands, in 1999 after a string of failed startups gave him glimpses of success—but never completely delivered.

"We started a cleaning company one time. We started a light-fixture company one time. We've started a number of different things," he says. "Every time we would start another company, it would get a little bit further down the pipe."