18-Year-Old Founder Scale: Carson Ray on Automotive AI and Kingdom Business

In this episode of the Big Hitters podcast, Andrew Hathaway speaks with Carson Ray, an 18-year-old serial entrepreneur and founder of DriveUpSales.ai (DUS). Carson shares his journey of dropping out of traditional middle school at age 13 to pursue entrepreneurship, launching a fishing tackle wholesale business, and scaling an exterior cleaning company to $36,000 in revenue in just six weeks using custom AI workflows. He breaks down how he leveraged that experience to launch DUS, an AI software solution addressing data fragmentation and sales communication gaps for automotive dealerships, the challenges of implementing AI into legacy corporate environments, and his core ambition to fund church plants and international missions through business exits. Support our Sponsors: 🤝 Thank you to Jake Frugé Jr of JFJ Holdings. JFJ Holdings helps companies scale and achieve founder-free growth to prepare them for successful exits. Website: https://jfjholdings.com/ and https://www.jakefrugejr.com/ Follow on Instagram:   / jakefrugejr   Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jfj-... 🤝 Thank you to Ben Jordan of Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric. Action Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric provides 24/7, dependable plumbing, HVAC, and electrical solutions to homes and businesses across Salt Lake City, Utah. Website: https://actionplumbing.net/ Follow on Instagram:   / benjordanofficial   Connect on LinkedIn:   / action-plumbing   — Chapters: 00:00 Faith, purpose, and building for impact 01:20 Podcast sponsors 02:53 Meet Carson Ray 03:24 Leaving school and starting young 05:25 Early business ideas and learning to execute 07:33 Building a home-service business with AI 11:03 Creating an AI platform for car dealerships 13:21 The challenge of AI adoption in business 17:24 Practical AI opportunities for home-service companies 20:05 Faith, marketplace ministry, and closing prayer Stream on Other Platforms: 🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38cEQ3Z... 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Connect with Andrew: Follow on Instagram:   / theandrewhathaway   Follow on Facebook:   / bighath33   Follow on TikTok:   / theandrewhathaway   Connect on LinkedIn:   / anhathaway   Hathaway Companies Website: https://hathaway-companies.com/ Virtual Assist Website: https://www.virtual-assist.co/ Freedom AI Website: https://freedom-ai.io/ Connect with Carson: Connect on LinkedIn:   / carson-ray-334795391   DriveUpSales.ai Website: https://driveupsales.ai/ 1️⃣ SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL 2️⃣ SUBSCRIBE TO ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS 3️⃣ SHARE THIS ON SOCIAL OR WITH A FRIEND #BigHittersPodcast #AndrewHathaway #SuccessMindset #Entrepreneurship #Podcast