Hacker 1: Scott Cook, Founder and Chairman, Intuit (BOD of eBay and Proctor and Gamble).
Our goal is surround ourselves with expert and seasoned Hackers. Most people would probably not consider Scott Cook (Economics/Maths and Marketing guy with an MBA from Harvard) a “hacker”… and it is possible that he wouldn’t even be in love with the phrase, but we think he is and thats what we love about him.
There is no doubt that Scott is an extremely successful entrepreneur, but it is the way that he did it that I admire. I consider a “hacker” to be somebody who does “whatever it takes” to be successful, to work as hard as is humanly possible to do so, and to never take “NO” for an answer. He will find a way (and has done it with intuit).
A dev-hacker will figure out a way into the system to get what they want- even if it isn’t the traditional, common, or “the way it should be” method. A biz hacker does the same.
When he started Intuit, Scott was turned down by every Venture Capitalist on Sand Hil Road. He was a late-comer to the accounting software space (competing against the likes of Microsoft) and nobody would take chance on him. He ended up scraping together just over $200k from friends and family to get started.
Scott made it happen and was one of the most customer-centric people of his time– spending time and money on constant customer feedback, observations, and iteration. That focus started to payoff as he began delighting customers and when he went back to Sand Hill Road every Venture Capitalist wanted a piece of Intuit.
Scott again got what he wanted, getting the top venture capitalist in the world, John Doerr to be the lead investor in the company.
He doesn’t code, but Scott Cook is a hacker.
He will figure out a way to make things work. We are extremely lucky that he has taken time to help us out and see every minute as invaluable.
Our Plan: Surround Ourselves with Hackers. Scott is one. Do you know others?
