Bob Kierlin

American entrepreneur who co-founded Fastenal in 1967 — growing it from a single nut-and-bolt store in Winona, Minnesota into a billion-dollar industrial distribution company — through extreme frugality, consistent principles, and a culture of promoting exclusively from within.

Built Fastenal as the proof that a simple business (selling fasteners) operated with extreme consistency and frugality can compound into a very large company — the Fastenal model of small stores, employee ownership culture, and obsessive focus on serving customers ahead of corporate procedures.