President, Chief Executive Officer & Chairwoman, PARSONS CORP
Carey Smith, Founder Unorthodox Ventures, Chief Big Ass Fans, sold for $500Million
Big Ass Success with Carey Smith, Founder Unorthodox Ventures, Chief Big Ass Fans, sold for $500Million is interviewed by David Cogan founder of Eliances and host of the Eliances Heroes show broadcast on am and fm network channels, internet radio, and online syndication.
www.unorthodoxventures.com www.eliances.com
About Carey Smith
Carey Smith, president, CEO and chairwoman of Parsons, said in a December 2024 interview that the company’s portfolio is “well aligned with the Trump administration.” She described Parsons’ federal business as a “purpose-built national security company” focused on cyber, electronic warfare, space and missile defense. Smith said the Department of Government Efficiency’s objectives of reducing cost, eliminating unnecessary regulations and improving government efficiency represent an opportunity for the company. She stated that removing regulations would allow Parsons to “move very fast” and get technology to market more quickly, and that the company could propose cost-reduction ideas such as using different business models “as a service.” Smith also discussed the company’s counter-unmanned air systems work, including capabilities to detect, identify, track and defeat drones, and noted that Parsons has been doing business in the Middle East for six decades, including a 50-50 joint venture partnership in Saudi Arabia. In a 2018 appearance, Smith argued that digital transformation requires integrating people, processes and technologies to deliver a secure environment, and that organizations that do not embrace digital technology risk being left behind. She said the federal government should adopt commercial business models such as licensing and subscriptions, and use shared services so agencies pay only for what they use. Smith also predicted that autonomous vehicles would significantly change infrastructure and services within a decade.
Transcript (16 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Narrator0:01
Welcome back to Alliance's Heroes. We're heroes in business aligned to be part of our super community. And find out more about Alliances, visit alliances.com. Now back to our super host David Cogan, founder of Alliances.
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David Cogan0:18
That's right. We just had on the founder and CEO of Sports Clips, an over six hundred million dollar company. And later on we're gonna have a person who co-founded a company that ends up selling his company to E-Trade. Let's get started though with our next hero. First of all, he is now the founder of Unorthodox Ventures and he could be reached at unorthodoxventures.com. Carey Smith. But before that he was the founder — I don't know if I'm allowed to say this on the radio or not — but founder of Big Ass Fans, which he ends up selling his company for over five hundred million dollars. Welcome to the show, Carey. First of all, when I hear the word Big Ass Fans, I can't even get that name out of my head. Such an easy name to remember. How did you come up with it?
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Carey Smith1:08
Actually, when we started the company, we called the company HPLS Fan Company, which is, you know, rather catchy, I think you'll agree. But when people called us on the phone, they asked — inevitably, when we would answer HPLS Fan Company, there would be a pause and they'd say, 'Are you those guys that make those Big Ass Fans?' And we're not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but after about a year, year and a half, we changed the name to Big Ass Fans, and it worked out quite well for us.
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David Cogan1:44
How did you get started and come up with the idea itself of making these — what it really is, a Big Ass Fan?
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Carey Smith1:48
Well, when we started, I wasn't actually making them. I had a company that I was aligned with that we partnered with that actually manufactured the fans, and we were the marketing and sales arm. That went along quite well for about two years, but there were various problems that they had in terms of scaling their operation. And we had made an agreement in the initial contract that after we sold 2,000 fans, that we could purchase 40% of — well, actually the IP of the company, the patents. And that, in fact, is what we did. We began manufacturing the fans themselves in 2001, and that's how it started.
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David Cogan2:42
All right, so you're building this company, you're growing by leaps and bounds, and then you sell it. Why? Because somebody wanted it more than you?
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Carey Smith2:50
Why does anybody sell anything? I mean, we built the company over a period of 19 years. We bootstrapped it. We didn't take any outside investments. We built it to just over 265 million in sales. It was very well known. We had a global brand. We sold fans in 150-something countries. And we decided — one of my guys said, 'Hey, you know, you might be able to sell this company.' And I said, 'No, I don't believe you.' But if I can, it's got to be at least 500 million. And son of a gun, if there wasn't somebody that was willing to pay that.
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David Cogan3:37
How did that feel? Like, you know, you're sitting at the table, you sign the agreements, you're done. What's going through your mind?
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Carey Smith3:44
Not a lot, actually. It's anti-climactic, I think, is the best way to describe it. It's not as if you're super charged with anything, because we had been working in this company for a long time and obviously had been successful for a long time. So it wasn't as if we were living hand-to-mouth. And I think the best thing about it from my perspective was that I had a number of my employees — we had over a thousand employees — but a number of those were involved in a SAR program, which is like a stock option program. And so the day after I received a check for 500 million, prior to the time that Uncle Sam came to the door hat-in-hand, I was able to write checks for fifty million dollars to people that worked with me. And that was the best part of the whole thing. That's the part that involved paying Uncle Sam a hundred million dollars was not such a — that wasn't such a good thing.
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David Cogan4:51
Well, you know what? The best part of my day is being able to interview you on the Alliance's Hero Show. Because you're listening to me, David Cogan, host of the Alliance's Hero Show. Make sure you go to alliances.com — that's A-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. It is the only place where entrepreneurs align. And we're with Carey Smith, he was the founder of Big Ass Fans who ends up selling his company for five hundred million dollars. Why? Because somebody wanted to pay five hundred million dollars, which is what he was asking. And now he's the founder of Unorthodox Ventures, so you can reach him at unorthodoxventures.com. All right, Carey, let's dive in now. Talk to me about Unorthodox Ventures.
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Carey Smith5:33
Well, Unorthodox Ventures is basically an investment firm. There were eight of the people that worked with me at the fan company. After we sold the fan company and they were released, they were some of my best employees at the fan company — they're engineers, finance guys, operators, marketing people — and we formed Unorthodox Ventures. And I asked them where they wanted to be, because we were in Lexington, Kentucky, and Lexington is a wonderful town if you're a horse. None of us were horses. And they decided — they're a rather young group — and they decided what they wanted to do was move to Austin, Texas. And that's what we did. So what we do is we look for companies that are in need of not just money but our expertise. Because again, these are the people that actually ran the Big Ass Fans company and developed the product and sold it and developed the sales channels and distribution channels. That's what we do. We started the company right after we sold the fan company in December of '17, so almost two years ago. It really took us a little bit of time to get everybody organized and here in Austin. So we've been doing this for a bit more than a year, and we've invested so far in six companies, both in this country and overseas. So it's been quite interesting.
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David Cogan7:22
What's the best way for someone to go ahead and pitch their idea to you?
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Carey Smith7:26
I think the best way is simply to touch bases with us via email or go to our website. That's the easiest way to do it. And we get a lot of people that are interested in talking to us, but it's always wonderful to talk to people. It's very interesting to me as somebody that started and ran a business — you're really absorbed in what you're doing. At least I was, and I wasn't one of those people that was out and about networking. And so it's fascinating to me how many people, especially young people, are really interested in doing this. But on the other hand, there's a lot of things they don't know about business, and I think that's where we can align and it makes a lot of sense. So it's a lot of fun.
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David Cogan8:22
What type of companies are you looking for to pitch you? What industries? Is there an industry specific?
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Carey Smith8:28
Now I'll tell you, everybody asks that, and I can tell you what we're not interested in, simply because we don't have the expertise, and that would be pharma. But everything else — we're involved with a company that has a fishing camera, we're involved with companies that deal with caffeinated yogurt, with medical devices that are directed towards the consumer market. So it's a lot of things. When it comes right down to it, from my perspective, it has to do with the individual and the people that are organizing and operating the business. That's the key.
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David Cogan9:20
Well, excellent. Well, Carey, you listened to your customers, you created something incredible, and continue to help startups and small medium businesses. That's a hero — Carey Smith, founder of Unorthodox Ventures. You can reach them at unorthodoxventures.com. And when we return, we're gonna meet somebody who sold his company for a ton of money to E-Trade. This has been David Cogan with Alliances, the only place where entrepreneurs align.