20: How Serial Entrepreneur Davis Smith Built "Gear For Good" Apparel & Experience Brand, Cotopaxi

Summary: In episode 20 of The Stokecast, Emily and Jonathan recap the joys and pains of their recent experience running the Trapp Lodge Mountain Marathon in Stowe, Vermont. After, they have a deep conversation about building businesses with social impact with Cotopaxi Founder and CEO, Davis Smith. Also on the show, learn: - How Davis runs his business AND his family by defining values and building an organizational culture (14:32) - When and why Davis learned to embrace his entrepreneurial spirit (16:00) - How Davis started and scaled his first business, going digitally native and selling pool tables online (18:45) - Why you shouldn't hire your closest friends first or at all (24:20) - How to identify ideas that are going to work and stick with it (29:35) - How to compete in a crowded market (34:38) - Why he started an adventure race series called Questival and hired two llamas off Craigslist to launch Cotopaxi (41:14) - How Cotopaxi is empowering creativity within their manufacturing facility in the Philippines (49:31) - What is a Benefit Corporation and how does it work? (53:55) - The benefits of bootstrapping vs. raising capital (56:33) - Davis' work to promote gender equality with GirlUp and Women's Leadership Institute - How he balances professional and personal life by managing both like a business (1:05:00) - What Cotopaxi is doing to aid the refugee crisis and one incredible story of the impact made (1:11:06) For the show notes from this episode, visit: https://exploreinspired.com/davis-smith