You’ve probably seen Ryan Smith sitting courtside at a Utah Jazz game or maybe heard his name mentioned during an NHL broadcast. He’s the guy who brought hockey to Salt Lake City and bought his hometown NBA team. But he didn’t just wake up one day with a couple billion dollars and a desire to own sports franchises. Honestly, the way most people think he got rich is a bit of a simplified myth.
People love the "instant billionaire" narrative. They see the $8 billion sale of Qualtrics to SAP in 2018 and think it was some overnight Silicon Valley fluke. It wasn't. It was actually a twenty-year grind that started in a basement in Provo, Utah, long before "Silicon Slopes" was even a thing.
The Basement Years and the $500 Million "No"
The foundation of how Ryan Smith made his money is a company called Qualtrics. He started it in 2002 with his father, Scott, and his brother, Jared. At the time, Ryan was a student at BYU’s Marriott School of Business. He actually left school just a few credits shy of a degree to focus on the business—though he did eventually go back to finish it years later once he was already a billionaire.
They didn't start with venture capital. They didn't even start with an office. It was a literal basement operation. For the first ten years, they "bootstrapped" everything. That’s a fancy business term for saying they didn't take a dime of outside money. They lived off what they sold.
One of the weirdest details about those early years is who they sold to. Big corporations didn't want their software. They thought online surveys were a joke. So, Ryan pivoted. He targeted academics. He figured if he could get Ph.D. students and professors at top business schools to use Qualtrics for their research, those students would take the software with them when they eventually got high-paying jobs at Fortune 500 companies.
It worked.
By 2012, the company was doing so well that they finally took their first round of investment—$70 million from Accel and Sequoia. But here is the kicker: before that investment, Ryan turned down a $500 million cash offer to sell the whole company. Most people would have taken the half-billion and retired at 33. He said no because he thought it was worth more.
The $8 Billion Weekend
Fast forward to 2018. Qualtrics was preparing for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The roadshow was done. The bankers were ready. The ticker symbol was set.
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Then SAP called.
The German software giant didn't want to compete with Qualtrics; they wanted to own them. Over a single weekend, Ryan negotiated an all-cash deal for $8 billion. It was one of the largest private enterprise software acquisitions in history at the time.
That was the moment the "wealth" became real liquidity. While Ryan and his family owned a massive chunk of the company, that $8 billion exit turned him from a wealthy tech executive into a billionaire with the kind of "dry powder" needed to buy sports teams.
But he didn't just walk away. He stayed on as CEO. He then helped lead the company through a second major financial event: a spin-off IPO in 2021. Even after SAP bought them, they took the company public again, and its valuation at one point soared past $20 billion.
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Building the Smith Entertainment Group (SEG)
Once you have billions in the bank, what do you do? If you’re Ryan Smith, you buy the Utah Jazz. In 2020, he bought a majority stake in the team from the Miller family for roughly $1.66 billion.
This wasn't just a vanity purchase. He folded the Jazz into a new entity called Smith Entertainment Group. This company is essentially the vehicle for his second fortune. He’s not just "spending" his Qualtrics money; he’s reinvesting it into a portfolio of assets that are arguably appreciating faster than software stocks.
His sports and entertainment holdings now include:
- The Utah Jazz (NBA)
- The Utah Mammoth (NHL) – This was the $1.2 billion deal to bring the Arizona Coyotes' assets to Utah in 2024.
- Real Salt Lake (MLS) – Co-owned with David Blitzer.
- The Utah Royals (NWSL).
- SEG Media, which is disrupting the old cable model by offering games via an over-the-air and streaming platform called Jazz+.
- The Delta Center and surrounding real estate in downtown Salt Lake City.
Basically, he’s betting on the state of Utah. He’s betting that live sports are the only thing people still watch in real-time, which makes the media rights incredibly valuable.
The Investor Side: HXCO and Angel Bets
Ryan doesn't just own teams. He’s also a prolific angel investor. He’s put money into companies like SeatGeek, TaxBit, and Awardco.
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In 2025, he launched a new $1 billion venture fund called Halo Experience Company (HXCO) alongside his long-time partner Ryan Sweeney from Accel. This fund isn't just about "tech." It’s about the "convergence" of tech and live entertainment. He’s looking for the next thing that makes the fan experience better, whether that’s through software or physical infrastructure.
It's a full-circle moment. He started by selling software to researchers in a basement, and now he’s funding the next generation of founders using the billions he made from those researchers.
What You Can Learn from the Ryan Smith Playbook
If you’re looking to replicate even a fraction of his success, there are a few specific takeaways that aren't the usual "work hard" platitudes.
- Delay Gratification (The 10-Year Rule): He didn't take venture capital for a decade. This allowed him to keep a much larger percentage of the company. When it finally sold for $8 billion, he owned enough of it to actually become a billionaire, rather than just a millionaire with a lot of diluted shares.
- Target the "Future" Influencer: By selling to MBA students, he built a Trojan Horse. He didn't have to convince the CEO of a company to buy Qualtrics; he just waited for the students who loved the software to become the managers who could sign the checks.
- Bet on Live Experiences: In an AI-driven world where content is becoming cheap and automated, Ryan is doubling down on things that have to happen in person. You can't download the feeling of a playoff game or a concert.
If you want to follow his moves, keep an eye on his real estate plays in Salt Lake City. He’s currently working on a massive "sports and entertainment district" that will likely redefine the city's downtown.
Next Steps for Researching Business Growth
If you're building your own business, look at your current "academic" or entry-level users. Are you building a product they will take with them to their next three jobs? That's the Qualtrics model. You might also want to look into SEC Form 4 filings for Qualtrics (ticker: XM) if you want to see the exact timing of his stock sales and how he diversified his wealth after the IPO.