Emily Smith

About Emily Smith

Raised in the two hottest startup spots in America, it\'s no wonder I got bit. Why I\'m The Way I AmThe startup bug bit young and deep. Between the late nights at my mom\'s startup and early morning brainjamming sessions with my serial fatherpreneur I developed a hunger for innovation that cannot be quenched. I had a fling with my first startup at 19 and built a little something: my first taste of the good stuff. What Lit My FireI spent the years post-Advertising undergrad working at a SF naming firm. You name it, we named it - from robotics to food and beverage (Mac & Cheetos anyone?) earning both my naming skillset & Bay Area mindset. Every project was another founding team ready to present their idea to the world, lacking only a name. We took their dreams and literally named them. There’s a rush to that moment, that thrill when you are part of the start. I was hooked.What I\'ve BuiltI went back for an MBA at BYU emphasizing in entrepreneurship, not only scholastically but the hard knocks way, too. As an MBA student I founded an e-commerce company that took off like lightning. But the MBA program also trained me to channel my entrepreneurial energy it into strategic roles charged with identifying new markets, channels or building & executing new GTMs.I spent the summer as an MBA Associate at Album and it was the perfect mix of tech, deal chasing, fomo, & founder relationships. Venture Capital had it all.I jumped to a portfolio company of Album\'s and experienced 2 semesters on the other side of the table, on a small team building a mobile app. Tech was my world. I needed more startups and more tech. I joined a small tech coworking startup called Kiln. It was a beautiful space and was charged with filling it with startups and breathing life into it. My team & I grew it into a bustling community of hundreds of tech startups under my wings. We had created the center of the Utah tech scene.Now I had startup breadth, I needed depth. I dove deep into 4 years of partnerships at the hottest tech rocketship I could find, the 1-year-old Divvy, and rode it through $2.5B acquisition and beyond, hunting whales along the way. Now I\'ve seen where these startups are trying to go, and helped them get there, too. Where I\'m Going NextI\'m ready for venture. I\'m ready to build the best performing seed fund this state\'s ever seen. Where I Fit InI thrive in early & growth-stage environments that value, compliment, and invest in both strategy and creativity - and these types of environments thrive when filled with, or accented by, people like me.

Experience

1. Brand Consultant

   Run Ventures

   Sep 2025 — Present · Salt Lake City, UT, US

   Running with the builders. Worked in stealth on all things name, brand, and launch of the new firm born out of Signal Peak Ventures, Run Ventures, established September 2025.Projects include: name, brand, website, launch day, branding of the physical space, annual meeting planning, and upcoming office housewarming hosting.

Education

• Brigham Young University

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Major in Communications (Advertising Emphasis) & Minor in Business Management

  2008 — 2014

• Susan Hive

  Mentorship Cohort 2, Entrepreneurship

  2020 — 2020

• Tangible School

  Cohort 2, Ecommerce Startups

  2019 — 2019

• Kinect Capital

  WeAngels 101, Venture Capital

• Startup Ignition

  Lehi Express Cohort 2, Entrepreneurship

  2018 — 2018

• Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Strategy

  2016 — 2018

Skills

• Qualtrics
• Product Management
• Sales
• Online Advertising
• Community Building
• Management
• Product Development
• Marketing Strategy
• Advertising
• Instagram Growth Strategies
• Creative Strategy
• Leadership
• Account Management
• Spanish
• Spss
• Blogging
• Account Planning
• Organization
• Agile Development
• Social Media Marketing
• Naming
• Brand Names
• Influencer Marketing
• Pinterest Marketing
• Brand Strategy
• Marketing
• Public Speaking
• Consumer Insights
• Start-Ups
• Social Media
• Creative Direction
• Business Development
• Marketing Communications