{"id":128423,"date":"2020-11-09T15:48:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T22:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128423"},"modified":"2022-09-22T09:31:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T15:31:56","slug":"fueling-colorados-workforce-through-innovation-and-teamwork-craig-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128423","title":{"rendered":"Fueling Colorado\u2019s workforce through innovation and teamwork | Craig Smith \u201997"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Craig Smith \u201997 knows a lot about growth. He helped build a 20-person startup into what is now HomeAdvisor, a leading digital marketplace with nearly 4,000 employees that connects people with professionals for home projects such as remodeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when he reflects on his time at UCCS, and the commuter campus it was in 1994 when he enrolled, he\u2019s proud to see how the university evolved.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI fell in love with the experience, the small classes, and the serious student body that was there to learn,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI wanted a college experience, but I was ready to be a serious student, too.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He focused on finance and portfolio management, which led to a growing relationship with now Chancellor Venkat Reddy, who taught many of Smith’s classes leading up to graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reddy recommended Smith for a three-year program as an investment analyst with the El Pomar Foundation; Smith earned his Chartered Financial Analyst credential, one of the most respected and recognized investment designations in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was lucky to be accepted. It influenced me a lot,\u201d Smith said, noting it exposed him to all the good the El Pomar Foundation does in the community.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It prepared him when expanding HomeAdvisor, which serves millions of people nationwide who are seeking reliable home improvement help. He joined in 2000, and it\u2019s grown exponentially ever since.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mentorship I received at UCCS was so important. In the years after I graduated, I was able to reach back out to professors with questions, and they gave great guidance,\u201d said Smith, who received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feedback was especially helpful when HomeAdvisor faced many hurdles, including well-funded competitors, the financial crisis of 2008 and more. The company began as ServiceMagic with just 20 employees.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe largest hurdle we had to jump came in 2011 and 2012 when we rebranded from ServiceMagic to HomeAdvisor. We were by far the largest internet company to have rebranded at the time,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt was scary. For seven days, it was like our company didn\u2019t exist.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But after a campaign to spread awareness, and a refocusing of the company\u2019s goals, Smith said the business bounced back \u2014 all the way to a merger with Angie\u2019s List, the second leading brand in the field.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent a lot of time listening to our customers, our employees. That engagement and feedback is important in so many ways. You\u2019re able to piece it together and it congeals into strategy that helps drive business forward,\u201d Smith said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His UCCS experience was critical in developing his strengths as a leader, the biggest being his ability to listen.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m an expert on very, very little. I\u2019m rarely the smartest person in the room. But I\u2019m able to bring lots of ideas together, and help in any situation,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe grit and resiliency that UCCS instils in its students makes its graduates really unique.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why he hopes to hire UCCS alumni to join HomeAdvisor\u2019s Colorado Springs office.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe a student at UCCS has to work harder to prove themselves over a Stanford degree, but the quality of education is equal,\u201d Smith said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the changes both at HomeAdvisor, and at UCCS, Smith said he feels immense pride, both in the quality of both entities, as well as the retention of identity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUCCS still has this close-knit community feel to it. You don\u2019t feel the class sizes are too large. The classes, the dorms, the buildings and the athletic teams are all a source of pride. It feels good to be a graduate.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Craig Smith \u201997 knows a lot about growth. He helped build a 20-person startup into what is now HomeAdvisor, a leading digital marketplace with nearly 4,000 employees that connects people with professionals for home projects such as remodeling.\u00a0 (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":128424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,427],"tags":[370,369,40],"class_list":["post-128423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-alumni-stories","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-success","tag-college-of-business"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Craig_HomeAdvisor_Main-1024x683-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-xpl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128423"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142803,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128423\/revisions\/142803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/128424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}