Building a Legacy of Innovation: Insights from Scott Purcell

Scott Purcell has built a successful career on the foundations of innovation and leadership. He is an alum of USC Marshall School of Business and holds an Executive MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Mr. Purcell has founded multiple companies and is widely recognized for his contributions to crowdfunding and advocacy. He is an avid philanthropist and supports service organizations that provide resources to veterans and public servants. 

How did you get into the business of crowdfunding innovation?

I started my career as a bond trader. After a few years in the industry, I noticed issues with the way high-coupon bonds were bought and sold by institutional investors and saw an opportunity. So, I created a specialty trust company powered by technology that enabled pension funds, insurance companies, cities, and other institutional investors to acquire bonds without paying market premiums (which were financed by banks). I ultimately sold this to a bank. 

After that company, I started what became one of the very first commercial internet service providers, and by "first," I mean that quite literally. I was on the board of the fledgling industry's trade association and the router we bought to "interconnect" our private networks into a public "internetwork" is now in the Smithsonian Museum. 

Thus, my career provided expertise in both the securities industry and internet technology. When I saw the JOBS Act coming to life, I realized they were going to let businesses raise capital via the Internet, and those were the things I knew extremely well. I had to be part of it, so I joined the Board of the association and became very involved in helping create the crowdfunding industry, including writing many of the industry opinions to the SEC. 

I went on to start FundAmerica to provide B2B escrow, compliance, funds processing, and other core services for crowdfunding portals, real estate syndicators, broker-dealers, and others serving businesses raising capital and their investors,

Where did your passion for innovation and leadership come from?

My father was an entrepreneur, starting his first company when I was 11 years old. I've never really known what it means to work for someone else. As a kid, I started numerous small businesses to make money and have been a serial entrepreneur. As to where my passion comes from, I really couldn’t say past, this is just how I’m wired. I tend to read biographies and history books of great events and people who overcame huge challenges or accomplished interesting things. I'm always looking at the world through a lens of "why?" to understand the reasons behind events or behavior and thinking of ways to make things better.

Where did the idea for OfficerDown.us come from?

I've always had a deep respect for those who put themselves in harm’s way on behalf of others. This respect extends to law enforcement, search & rescue, fire, and the military, among others. I read an article about the problems that a fallen officer’s family was having getting food and paying the bills while their union and others were sorting through benefits. I immediately thought that crowdfunding could help. 

So, I pulled together some great minds and experts in tech to create the site, had my CPA file for a 501c-3, and hired a police sergeant’s wife to run the website (eventually fully turning it over to her). I'm proud of how many families OfficerDown.us helped over the years.

What does a typical day look like for you as an entrepreneur and leader?

Every entrepreneur is different, but I think a common element are that our business is an extension of us personally. It is our creative work, similar to how an artist or writer feels about whatever project they are currently working on. So, it's completely immersive. We think about it all the time, and we are always working — much to the chagrin of our families. 

For me, I get up early and, before showering or anything else, I check email and texts that came in overnight and respond to anything urgent. I help with breakfast and drive my kids to school to get some time with them, then I get to the office, usually before anyone else. I often use lunchtime as an opportunity for one-on-one time with people from my team, or I use it to get out of the office and focus on things without interruptions. 

I get home before dinner, say hi to the family, help with homework if needed, then set up my computer at home and continue working until called for dinner. We try to keep our family time electronics free whenever possible but having access to urgent communications allows me to balance the entrepreneur’s life with being home to put my kids to bed and catch up on work before bed. 

My work follows me into the weekend, but I’ve learned to manage work in the morning before everyone wakes up and keep it away from our family time whenever possible. Entrepreneurship takes much of my time, but being able to be there for family moments is always a priority as well, and balancing the two is key to every day in my professional life.

Was there ever a time when you faced failure? How did you overcome it and move forward?

I started what could have been an amazing business called "FanMail", where fans could get email addresses at the domain names of their favorite music stars, and the musicians would get a huge cut of the revenue. We had massive interest and signed up some of the world’s top musicians, but this was during the dot-com bubble bust and there just wasn't any access to capital, so we didn't have enough money to get the technology built. Lesson learned — even the best ideas in the world are doomed if you don't have the money to pull it off.

Failure is hard, and you can get lost in the black hole of anger, resentment, and despair. The hard truth is, this may be topped off with utterly irrational finger-pointing by others, and even litigation. It can consume you. So, you need to acknowledge all that, accept that it gets to you and it hurts, and then put it in a box mentally so you can move forward in life and business. 

There are always new opportunities, so don't let a failure be a reason to stop creating new ventures. The pain won’t go away for a while as people will keep revisiting your misstep, but ignore them as much as possible, realize the majority of the world has zero awareness or care about your failure. The market only cares if you are building something that solves their pain, and if you do then people will buy it, team members will join you, investors will come, and life will get fun again.

What are the top lessons you’ve learned from your extensive experience in innovation and leadership?

Build a team and trust them to do what they do. Hire people smarter than you in various areas of expertise, and no matter what your favorite skillset is as a CEO, you are still going to have to be the number one salesperson whether you like it or not. Learn to love it and learn how to do it.