Our guest this week is Rick Smith – the founder of Axon, the company formerly known as TASER International.  We have a broad ranging conversation where Rick shares his thoughts about everything from being a reluctant Harvard student, to the differences between being a founder and a CEO, to his new book, The End of Killing.  

A pioneer of technology with the vision of making the bullet obsolete, Rick founded the original company, TASER, in 1993. As the TASER device became ubiquitous in law enforcement, Rick pushed the company beyond weapons technology and towards a broader purpose of matching technology to public safety needs in order to make the world a safer place. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a garage in Tucson to a NASDAQ-listed global market leader in conducted electrical weapons, body worn cameras and software. Rick was winner of the Ernst and Young 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year. Rick graduated from Harvard with a B.S. in Neuroscience (Cum Laude) and later earned a Master in International Finance from the University of Leuven in Belgium and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

SELECT LINKS FROM THE PODCAST

Rick’s blog post – “Four Books that Helped Me Grow”