Bill Campbell

I met Scott Cook (Intuit founder) through my friend Joe Mahoney, and pitched Scott on my product QSHOP -- an ecommerce store builder. Scott liked the pitch and then sent me to see Bill Campbell, Intuit's CEO at the time.

When I went into Bill's office, he greeted me as if he woke up that day just to see me - it was remarkable how welcome he made me feel. (Later I learned that he had this impact on everyone who met him.)

I told Bill that I had about seven slides on my company and could I show him, he said sure.

My first slide had the names of my 10 team members. I spent a good five minutes on this slide. Before I told him about QSHOP, I wanted to make sure he understood how unusual my team was, and how lucky I felt to have them.

After this slide, Bill said "Ok, I don't need to see any more slides. I want to acquire your company. Anyone who cares that deeply about his team is someone I want on my management team."