Scott Cook was born and raised in a suburb of L.A. after his parents emigrated from Wisconsin. He was nerdy as a youth, and in high school programmed the school district’s one computer. He attended the University of Southern California, then Harvard Business School. Scott started his career at P&G in Cincinnati in brand management, where he met his future wife Signe Ostby when seeking advice from other brand groups. His subsequent marriage to her “insourced” a limitless supply of advice. Still nerdy as an adult, Scott started a software project during a stint at Bain & Co. to solve his wife’s hassles with doing the family finances. That grew into Quicken, and Intuit was born 30 years ago. Though Intuit struggled in its early years, with VCs refusing to invest, business eventually improved. Scott is still at Intuit today and has learned to love tax season. He ran the company for 11 years through its IPO. Since then, he has hired and promoted more talented leaders to be CEO, whose curse is the founder who won’t go away. Scott is on the boards of P&G, eBay, Intuit, and HBS. He funds social entrepreneurs catalyzing global leaps in education and medical research. Scott is a regular cyclist and rides with the aptly named “Over the Hill Gang.” He is thankful for parabolic skis and ultra-light backpacking gear. He enjoys strange travel with friends, recently going to Myanmar, Laos, and Cuba, and hiking between Japanese inns. He resides in Woodside, California.
Conferences
Techonomy 14
This year Techonomy moves to the beautiful Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, November 9-11, on the cliffs south of San Francisco, near Silicon Valley.
Conferences
Techonomy 11
Techonomy is about the centrality of technology to business and social progress and the urgency of embracing the rapid pace of change brought by technology. Every major issue going forward will be affected by how it intersects with tech innovation. We believe that only those leaders who keep this conviction at the forefront of their […]
