J ared Smith is an American self-made billionaire and a co-founder of Qualtrics, a leading experience management software company. He co-founded the company in 2002 with his brother, Ryan Smith, and their father, Scott, from the basement of their family home in Utah. They bootstrapped the company for its first decade, building a powerful survey and data analytics platform.

Qualtrics' software allows organizations to collect and analyze feedback from customers and employees to improve their products and services. While his brother Ryan was the charismatic CEO and public face of the company, Jared was a key technical leader, playing a crucial role in building the company's product. In 2018, just days before its planned IPO, they sold the company to the German software giant SAP for a massive $8 billion. The company was later spun out of SAP in a successful IPO, before being taken private again by private equity firms. Jared's founding stake is the source of his massive fortune.