Joshua b. Smith

Joshua b. Smith

Founder. Operator. Systems Builder.

I’ve spent thirty years building, operating, and selling companies, from early ecommerce to manufacturing.

Built by effort. Carried by grace.

Since the KEEG exit in 2019, my wife, daughter, and I have spent seven years traveling the world. I still build my own products and work with founders on the decisions that shape their businesses.

View the founder arc Contact

Origin

Built Before It Was Easy

I started building before the tools made it simple.

In the 90s, I taught myself HTML because I wanted to sell online before ecommerce had a clean playbook. Before modern payment gateways were normal, I wired together cash register logic, Microsoft Access, and early credit card processing so my business could accept payments online.

That pattern kept repeating.

I founded, built, and exited companies across ecommerce, supplements, subscription commerce, manufacturing, and consumer products. Some were pure internet businesses. Some were physical-product and manufacturing companies. Some were built without outside capital, partnerships, or institutional support.

One ecommerce business was acquired by a Chicago-based retail chain. KEEG Ocean Plastics, a physical-products and manufacturing company, was acquired by University of California, Irvine. Along the way, I learned the work at the level it required: HTML, ecommerce, payments, injection molding, extrusion, process control, factory layout, material handling, customer acquisition, subscription retention, and cash flow.

At one point, that meant building and operating a 20,000 sq. ft. plastics factory on US soil and developing a high-speed bulk method for using reclaimed ocean plastics as virgin regrind.

Looking back, I do not see that arc as self-made. I see the Lord’s wisdom, favor, correction, and grace woven through all of it. The opened doors, the hard lessons, the falls, the recoveries, and the ability to keep going were not mine to manufacture.

The category changed. The pattern did not.

Find the constraint. Learn the system. Build the bridge. Be faithful with what is in front of me.

The products I build now come out of that experience.

Founder First

Founder Timeline

I spent the first 25 years of my career building and operating companies from the inside. Advisory came later. The foundation was founder work: payroll, cash flow, machinery, customer acquisition, inventory, distribution, facilities, subscriptions, exits, and the constant pressure of making the business work.

  • 25+ years founder/operator
  • Started first company project at 17
  • 6 founder-led companies
  • Multiple exits
  • Built without outside capital
  • $587M+ gross retail sales

  1. 1995 to 2000

    Millennium Gym & Racquetball Club

    At 17, I helped organize and launch a $2.5M project to build the first fitness center in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The project included a 12,000 sq. ft. multi-use facility with a fitness center, juice bar, aerobic space, and three racquetball courts. I sold my interest to the remaining managing partners in 2000.

  2. 2000 to 2008

    Smith Retail, Inc.

    Built and operated a real estate development company in Northwest Arkansas focused on greenfield residential and commercial projects. The work included land acquisition, subdivisions of 50 to 100+ homesites, office parks, commercial buildings, apartments, rental homes, contractors, financing, and day-to-day development operations.

  3. 2000 to 2006

    ASCG, Inc.

    Worked in Alaska as a non-destructive evaluation technician across X-ray inspection, ultrasonic inspection, magnetic particle inspection, and dye penetrant inspection. This became an early technical foundation in quality control, physical systems, inspection discipline, and operational precision.

  4. 2005 to 2009

    MySupplementStore.com

    Founded a health and vitamin ecommerce distributor in Bentonville, Arkansas. Built the ecommerce operation, warehouse systems, team, SKU catalog, and customer base. The company carried 44,000 SKUs, served over 150,000 monthly customers, shipped over 1 million orders, and was later sold to a national chain store.

  5. 2009 to 2017

    XS Supplements, Inc.

    Founded a nutraceutical manufacturing company in Republic, Missouri. Developed and launched 37 blended vitamin, performance, and athlete-specific formulas. Built ecommerce, wholesale, retail, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. Products reached 500+ U.S. retail stores including Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, Walmart, Costco, and Sam’s Club, with international distribution in the UK, Australia, South Africa, and Japan. The company was sold in 2017.

  6. 2017 to 2019

    KEEG Ocean Plastics, Inc.

    Founded and built a manufacturing and ecommerce company around high-tolerance monofilament, extrusion, injection molding, reclaimed materials, Shopify Plus, subscriptions, and direct-to-consumer sales. The company was sold to University of California, Irvine in 2019.

The Manufacturing Chapter

The Manufacturing Chapter

KEEG Ocean Plastics was the final company in my first 25-year founder/operator arc.

I built two 10,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plants in Springfield, Missouri, sourced and imported the equipment, designed custom tooling and dies, programmed Siemens PLC servo-automation, and hired, trained, and managed the extrusion and injection molding team.

The operation included four monofilament extrusion lines with combined output of roughly 400 lbs. per hour over a 10-hour shift while maintaining tolerances of +/- 0.02mm. We also built a recycling program that reclaimed over 500,000 lbs. of scrap each year.

One of the core breakthroughs was developing a high-speed bulk method for turning reclaimed ocean plastics back into prime regrind for extrusion, injection molding, and sheet molding at scale, including pulls over 10 metric tons.

Alongside the factory, I built and operated a Shopify Plus ecommerce engine that served more than 200,000 customers, processed 850,000+ orders, and supported a monthly subscription box program with 3,700+ members.

KEEG was acquired by University of California, Irvine in 2019.

That exit marked the end of my first founder/operator chapter and the beginning of the advisory chapter.

  • 20,000 sq. ft. US manufacturing footprint
  • 4 extrusion lines
  • 400 lbs/hour output
  • +/- 0.02mm tolerance
  • 500,000+ lbs reclaimed annually
  • 10+ metric ton reclaimed plastic pulls
  • 200,000+ customers
  • 850,000+ orders
  • 3,700+ subscription members
  • Acquired by University of California, Irvine

Outside Validation

Exits and Recognition

Across that first founder/operator chapter, I built and exited companies across ecommerce, supplements, subscription commerce, manufacturing, and consumer products. One ecommerce business was acquired by a national chain store. XS Supplements was sold in 2017. KEEG Ocean Plastics was acquired by University of California, Irvine in 2019.

Along the way, the work earned recognition including Inc. 5000 honors three years running, a #40 ranking among the fastest-growing retail companies in the U.S., #793 overall among U.S. companies, Inc. Magazine’s “30 Top CEOs Under 30,” and Hewlett Packard’s worldwide Innovative Packaging and Design Award for 2009.

Exits

  • MySupplementStore.com: acquired by a national chain store
  • XS Supplements: sold in 2017
  • KEEG Ocean Plastics: acquired by University of California, Irvine

Recognition

  • Inc. 5000: three years running
  • #40 fastest-growing retail company in the U.S.
  • #793 overall among U.S. companies
  • Inc. Magazine “30 Top CEOs Under 30”
  • Hewlett Packard Innovative Packaging and Design Award
Joshua Smith outdoors.

Since 2019

Life after the exit

These days, life includes travel with my wife and daughter, time in the mountains, hiking, and flying. I still enjoy getting deep into a problem and making something work.

Building remains part of that life. Sometimes it’s a decision I’m working through with another founder. Sometimes it’s a recipe app inspired by my wife’s love of cooking on the road.

The project that grew out of our travels

The Advisory Chapter

The Advisory Chapter

After selling KEEG in 2019, I began working with other founders on the decisions in front of them.

I bring the experience of having carried that responsibility in my own companies.

I like getting close enough to a business to understand what is actually happening. The work has covered acquisition, conversion, retention, subscriptions, and the systems connecting them. Sometimes that means tracing a customer journey, looking at the numbers, or opening the code.

RavenOS grew out of that work: hundreds of founder conversations, dozens of growth blueprints, and recurring problems that were hard to see clearly across disconnected systems.

Advisory background
  • Advisory through Upwork since 2021
  • Nearly $3M in advisory billings
  • Expert-Vetted Top 1%
  • 100% Job Success

Current Work

Current Work

These are the things I’m building now. RavenOS grows out of my work with ecommerce founders. NRGX Labs explores market research. Versefold and Saltpaper are personal projects around Scripture and cooking.

Meet Saltpaper, a personal cookbook inspired by life on the road.

Growth System

RavenOS

Private software I’m building from my advisory work with ecommerce brands.

It brings Shopify, Klaviyo, GA4, Meta, and customer data together so I can trace problems across the business, from payments and checkout to lifecycle performance and repeat purchase.

The AI helps dig through the data. I decide what matters.

Explore RavenOS

Research Platform

NRGX Labs

Private options research platform.

Independent quantitative models do the analytical work. AI helps explain their outputs. The research is built around inspectable logic and human judgment.

Explore NRGX Labs

Scripture App

Versefold

Versefold light theme, reading John 1.
Versefold dark theme, reading Psalms with study actions.

Scripture-first Bible app for iPhone, available on the App Store.

Versefold is built around quiet reading, careful study, personal notes, and daily remembrance. Less phone. More Word.

Explore Versefold

Legal Tech

InjuryOS

An operating system concept for plaintiff-side injury firms.

InjuryOS is being designed to connect acquisition and intake: demand capture, qualification, follow-up, attribution, and signed-case feedback. The design keeps human review in the process.

A project from life

Saltpaper

Recipes, made yours.

My wife’s love of cooking on the road inspired Saltpaper. It started with wanting to keep the recipes we love and the little changes that make them ours.

I’m building it as a native iPhone cookbook that keeps the original recipe alongside your own versions and notes. Saved recipes stay available offline. The goal is simple: less hunting for a recipe, more time enjoying the cooking.

The useful details are often the small ones: keeping the original, making a version of your own, and remembering what you changed.

Explore Saltpaper How I work with founders
Saltpaper recipe directions with personal notes.Saltpaper native cookbook with saved recipes.

Working Together

Where I get involved

My work with founders ranges from a focused review to an ongoing conversation.

Still Building

Close to the work

I still write code and build my own products. Staying close to the work matters to me.

The problems vary, from market research to legal intake to quiet Scripture reading. Each one requires understanding the details and deciding what belongs in the product.

NRGX Labs

An options research platform built around 18 quantitative engines. Deterministic models produce the research; AI helps explain their outputs. The underlying logic stays inspectable, with human judgment at the center.

Versefold

A native iPhone Bible app built around quiet Scripture reading, contextual study, personal notes, and privacy-aware assistance. The product decisions favor attention and restraint, with no feed or social layer.

InjuryOS

A concept for connecting an injury firm’s marketing, intake, follow-up, and case outcomes. The design keeps human review in the process and feeds case outcomes back into acquisition decisions.

I care about both sides: a system I can trust, and a product someone can use without thinking about the machinery behind it.

Selected Proof Points

Selected Proof Points

A few examples from work with other founders.

DTC Growth

Supported a WordPress/WooCommerce DTC brand from roughly $7.6M to $14M+ in annual revenue by tightening PPC, funnel strategy, owned-channel follow-up, acquisition, retention, and campaign performance.

Lifecycle Growth

Led lifecycle strategy for a premium ecommerce brand where revenue moved from $4.9M to $7.1M, with $5.8M attributed to email and SMS conversions up 174%.

High-Volume Acquisition

Worked as COO alongside the founder of a giveaway/sweepstakes ecommerce company built from idea to over $25M/year in sales, including Meta, SMS infrastructure, Klaviyo, production, and campaign operations.

High-Trust Ecommerce

Built growth blueprints for trust-heavy ecommerce categories including precious metals, supplements, luxury goods, technical products, and high-consideration DTC.

Approach

How I Work

I try to understand what is happening before deciding what to change.

That means looking across customer behavior, the numbers, the product, and how the business actually operates. I want to understand what is connected before we commit time and money to a fix.

Most businesses do not need more random ideas. They need the right problem named in the right order.

  • Understand before prescribing
  • Follow the evidence
  • Keep AI in the right role
  • Look across the whole business
  • Make the tradeoffs clear
  • Decide what happens next

Foundation

Stewardship

I do not see the last 25 years as a self-made story.

I have worked hard, taken risks, built companies, learned systems, and carried real responsibility. But whatever wisdom, favor, endurance, opportunity, correction, and provision I have had came from the Lord.

He opened doors I could not have forced. He carried me through seasons I could not have survived on my own strength. He used both success and failure to shape me.

That is why I see business as stewardship. Build with excellence. Tell the truth. Protect what matters. Be faithful with what has been placed in my hands. Leave the increase to God.

This is the quiet foundation underneath everything I build now.

Personal Mark

One Hat Trick After Another

I have joked for years that my life has been one hat trick after another.

One of my first tattoos was a rabbit being pulled out of the Mad Hatter’s hat. At the time, it felt like a symbol for the way I had always operated: build under pressure, find the hidden move, and pull something unlikely out of an impossible situation.

That old tattoo became a kind of private shorthand for the pattern.

I still understand the image, but I understand it differently now.

What looked like cleverness was often grace. What looked like timing was often provision. What looked like resilience was often the Lord carrying me when I did not have enough strength, wisdom, or margin to carry myself.

Twenty-five years later, that pattern is less about tricks and more about stewardship.

The work looks different now. The responsibility is the same: build with excellence, be faithful with what is in front of me, and leave the increase to God.

SELECTED WORK / DETAIL