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:

14:32 - How Davis runs his business AND his family by defining values and building an organizational culture

16:00 - When and why Davis learned to embrace his entrepreneurial spirit

18:45 - How Davis started and scaled his first business, going digitally native and selling pool tables online

24:20 - Why you shouldn't hire your closest friends first or at all

29:35 - How to identify ideas that are going to work and stick with it

34:38 - How to compete in a crowded market

41:14 - Why he started an adventure race series called Questival and hired two llamas off Craigslist to launch Cotopaxi

49:31 - How Cotopaxi is empowering creativity within their manufacturing facility in the Philippines

53:55 - What is a Benefit Corporation and how does it work?

56:33 - The benefits of bootstrapping vs. raising capital

58:29 - Davis' work to promote gender equality with GirlUp and Women's Leadership Institute

1:05:00 - How he balances professional and personal life by managing both like a business

1:11:06 - What Cotopaxi is doing to aid the refugee crisis and one incredible story of the impact made

For the show notes from this episode, visit: https://exploreinspired.com/davis-smith