# Michael Smith — Founder & CEO, Forman Pacific, LLC

> Michael Smith, Founder and CEO of Forman Pacific — an entrepreneur who has bootstrapped more than 80 start-ups over 33 years, across many industries.

- Canonical URL: https://www.formanpacific.com/about/founder/
- Role: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Forman Pacific, LLC (Delaware; est. 2002)
- Company: https://www.formanpacific.com/
- Contact: https://www.formanpacific.com/contact/ (enquiries for Michael are routed through the Forman Pacific contact form)

## At a glance

- Started his first business at 16
- 33 years building start-ups
- 80+ businesses bootstrapped — self-funded, built from first principles
- Today's portfolio spans 3 jurisdictions: New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom

## Profile

Michael began building businesses at sixteen and has not stopped. Over thirty-three years he has bootstrapped more than eighty start-ups — self-funded, built from first principles, and grown on the strength of the work rather than outside capital.

The pattern has stayed the same throughout: understand an industry properly, build the operating system it is missing, then put a brand on top of it. That approach is the foundation of Forman Pacific, which he leads as Founder and Chief Executive.

## Training

- Law — legally trained
- Business — Diploma in Business (BOPP), with grounding in accounting and finance
- Journalism & public relations — qualifications in journalism and PR
- Valuation — chattels valuation qualifications through the University of Auckland

## Industries

- Over the years: immigration, tax, property, finance, fuel, security, consumer goods, service industries, hotels, restaurants
- Today's portfolio: emergency services, insurance & claims, mobility & towing, industrial & fuel, compliance & screening, financial services, intelligence, healthcare operations, media & AI, climate technology, preparedness, employment, cloud infrastructure
- All platforms: https://www.formanpacific.com/companies/

## Writing


## Family & faith

Michael is married and a father of thirteen. Family sits at the centre of his life, and it shapes how he thinks about the long term — building things that outlast the projects they began as. His faith guides him: in how he treats people, in how he does business, and in the standard he holds himself and his companies to.

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Source: https://www.formanpacific.com/about/founder/