Davis Smith
@davismsmith
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CEO of Cotopaxi, entrepreneur, global adventurer, humanist, UNF Global Entrepreneurs Council member, Presidential Leadership Scholar, father of four.
Cottonwood Heights, Utah
Joined April 2009
I've done 3,129 20VC episodes. @davismsmith is one of the most special people I have interviewed. š± Scaled pool table business to $6M a year. š§š· Raised $Ms to build Amazon of Brazil. š Started & scaled Cotopaxi to challenge Patagonia + $150M revenues. 8 Lessons: š
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Sponsored by @OfficeDepot. Cotopaxi Founder and CEO Davis Smith prioritizes wellness in his workday and advises other small business owners to do the same.
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One of the hardest (but most exciting) decisions Iāve made in a long time: I just bought back my first business, https://t.co/2y5pWHXSQl, and have converted it into a benefit corporation to fight poverty. On the hunt for a CEO to scale beyond billiards.
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Cotopaxi + REI
The humanitarian brand is known for its colorful packs and poverty-fighting mission. Now, itās focusing on COVID-19 relief.
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If you're interested in @BCorporation's, this might be worth a watch. @KaraEGustafson is a social impact expert and was great to chat with about how and why @Cotopaxi got started (including raising venture capital with little more than a big vision of social impact).
How can you build purpose into your organization from day one? WATCH this #ImpactStudies as I ask @davismsmith how he built @Cotopaxi around its social mission from the very beginning + why he embraced the B Corp standard š½ļø: https://t.co/4yBt0PjsWn
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Washingtonās culture is broken. Divisiveness, personal attacks, demonization of opponents, and tribalism define our national politics. Itās no wonder better candidates donāt run for national office. Great people have no desire to join toxic cultures. #UtahLeads #StandUnited
Iām not sure this has ever been done before...but as our national political dialogue continues to decline, my opponent @PetersonUtah and I decided to try something different. We can disagree without hating each other. Letās make Utah an example to the nation. #StandUnited #utpol
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2020 has been full of anxiety, but it has also been one of my most fulfilling years as an entrepreneur. Here are some lessons Iāve learned as a survivalist that prepared me to manage a business through crisis.
linkedin.com
Managing uncertainty and fear are part of surviving in the wild. As a survivalist, Iāve learned lessons in the wild that have helped me lead as an entrepreneur during economic crises.
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If youāre considering an MBA, speak a foreign language at an advanced level, and have a passion for all things international (culture, language, politics, economics), definitely check out @Whartonās @LauderInstitute. It was life-changing for me.
"I only applied to one school. I'd always known I wanted to go to the Wharton School. They had a program called the @LauderInstitute... It was exactly what I wanted." @Cotopaxi founder @DavisMSmith (WG'11) talked his journey & the role Wharton played on @NPR's @HowIBuiltThis ā¤µļø
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This is a life highlight for me. I hope some of you enjoy this Guy Raz interview!
It's Monday and there's an ALL NEW How I Built This āļø @cotopaxi founder @davismsmith believes that ethical businesses can make a big difference. He launched the outdoor gear brand with a couple of llamas (Coto + Paxi) and a focus on giving back. https://t.co/Ts2VFxRfEF
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There are some silver-linings to this crisis, and this is one of them. Edgar, a street kid I met in Peru in 2001 has a life-changing opportunity right now. $7k+ in virtual walking tours of Cusco already sold.
davismsmith.medium.com
Iāve told the story of Edgar hundreds of times. In 2001, still reeling from the shock of the 9/11 attacks, I met a 9-year-old shoe shiningā¦
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All #OneUtah t-shirt proceeds will be directed to local partners including the @intermountain Healthcare Foundation, the @utahfoodbank, and Utahās Department of Workforce Services, @jobsut. Pre-order your shirt here: https://t.co/dRk4qdpurN
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I lived and built a business in Brazil. Consumer goods (electronics, baby products, cars, etc.) cost 50-100% more than in the US. It doesnāt matter much that youāve created tons of low paying manufacturing jobs when an iPhone costs $1,800 and Chrysler minivan costs $100,000. 2/2
....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
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Brazil should serve as a warning to the US about protectionist trade policies. Closed economies indeed provide business opportunities for uncompetitive industries because foreign products become too expensive to import but low productivity and sky-high prices are the outcome. 1/2
....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
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This is the first time Iāve seen a campaign event where not a single dollar is going to the campaign, but instead is being raised for charity. @SpencerJCox is shaking up politics as we know it. Join us tonight in support of these amazing and inspiring refugees in our communities.
I appreciate the work that the Utah community has done to embrace refugees from around the world. @davismsmith has been an essential leader for us in this area and is throwing a bday party for @SpencerJCox benefiting refugees in Uā¦ https://t.co/3lQIevz5gg
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Formal startup business plans may have gone out of style, but study after study shows their value: planning ups the chance of business success by 10%-20% or more! Plans help generate agreement, surface assumptions, ensure things arenāt missed, and highlight potential dangers.
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Ramiro from @WCKitchen has been doing relief work for the last month traveling only with his @Cotopaxi Allpa travel pack. This is what that bag was designed for. Proud!
Meet Habib from the fishing village of Labuhan! His home was destroyed after the Sunda tsunami. He now volunteers in a group of 20 that stay up from sunset to sunrise to alert the village of danger. We were happy to bring him a meal during his night watch. #ChefsForIndonesia
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āUtahās labor force has grown an average of 1.9% a year from 2010 through January 2018, more than triple the nationās 0.6% pace." @wsj
wsj.com
Utah has had the fastest-expanding labor force of any U.S. state since January 2010āa key ingredient for economic growth and one that provides an example for the nation as a whole.
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My colleague Matthew Bidwell & I surveyed every living Wharton MBA alumni. The happiest people (in terms of job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and work-life balance) were entrepreneurs. On the graph you can see the orange bar is for founders, other industries listed below.
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Helpful video compilation of the things the president says he knows more about than anybody:
Trump is the #1 expert onā¦ - Taxes - Construction - Campaign finance - Drones - Technology - U.S. History - Infrastructure - ISIS - Facebook - Renewables - Polls - Courts - Steel workers - Golf - Banks - Nuclear arms - The system - Debt - Politicians ā¦according to Donald Trump
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