Justin Smith is the founder of OuterBox, the Copley, Ohio ecommerce and performance-marketing agency he started from a two-bedroom apartment in 2004. He led the firm as CEO through its Inc. 500 years and multi-state scale-up, then moved to the board in 2024 when Jeff Allen became CEO.
Starting OuterBox Near Akron
Smith graduated from Hudson High School near Akron, Ohio, then left the Art Institute of Pittsburgh when he had a young child and bills to pay. A 2012 Akron Beacon Journal profile says he came home, built websites with freelancers, and founded OuterBox at nineteen from his apartment.
Early growth mixed ecommerce builds with search optimization. Clients from that era included Ace Hardware and Anchor Hocking, and Ultimate Sack's co-owner told the Beacon Journal the shop's sites were central to the brand's warehouse-scale growth.
Inc. 500 and the Kaiser Building
OuterBox made Inc. magazine's 2012 list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies after sales rose from about $236,000 in 2008 to $2.1 million in 2011. The firm moved into Akron's restored Kaiser Building and later expanded onto a second floor there.
A 2019 15-year anniversary release marked more than fifty in-house employees and a Columbus, Ohio office opening. Smith credited hiring Northeast Ohio tech talent as the real separator from competitors.
Handing OuterBox to Jeff Allen
In February 2024 OuterBox appointed Allen as CEO. Smith shifted to the board and said in the announcement that he was proud of the journey from inception and excited to see Allen lead the next chapter.
OuterBox still sells ecommerce website development, SEO, paid search, CRO, and email from a U.S.-based team, with platform work across Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and WordPress.