As a child, he was committed to the idea that he would be a dentist when he grew up. The problem is that Scott never really had any interest in dentistry. Today, he has no idea why he ever wanted to become one. “It just seemed that it was a prestigious enough, good job,” he remembers laughing.
It’s good that Scott realized cleaning teeth wouldn’t be his thing at a fairly young age. It doesn't vibe with his interests or his life’s tagline: Build cool things with cool people. This philosophy hasn’t led him astray so far and has led to some of his greatest successes. He’s cultivated strong friendships, had career successes, and is now building a satisfying home life with his family. In his life so far, Scott seems like a person who follows his instincts and pursues the things that made him happiest.
Scott grew up in Garden Grove, a stone’s throw from Disneyland. It’s apt that his youth sounds like the idealized suburban life, filled with youth sports, rollerblades, and video games. His mother was a secretary, and his father worked at Boeing, building structures used to build airplanes (the C-17 in part). They encouraged Scott and his two younger brothers to spend time outside, using their imaginations. If not playing hockey or baseball, Scott was off playing golf. (“It's an extended amount of time with grass and trees.”)
Like many kids, Scott got more into computers around the age of 13. Whether it was downloading songs from Limewire or playing Counterstrike or World of Warcraft with friends, the digital world had hooked him. In perhaps his first entrepreneurial venture, he built websites selling in-game digital items for real money. “I was mucking around with Geocities. It was my first foray into websites and programming because Geocities had a source code tab on their site editor. I remember thinking, ‘wow, there’s an entire language underpinning this thing.’ So that was my first intro into what would turn into my nerdy self.”
A pretty good student, he was never particularly passionate about academics. Scott excelled at and felt at home with computers; his life was geared around them, learning how to program while in high school. It was an awakening of sorts: “For the first time, I felt that this hobby, this fun I’d been having, could be a career path.” After this revelation, there was no question about what he wanted to study: He chose engineering without hesitation. “I knew I loved programming. I was going to figure out a way to make money doing that,” he says. “There was no other path I wanted to take.”
Scott's wakeboarding tricks include 1) going over the wake and getting two inches of air and 2) faceplanting.
"Went back-country skiing for the first time right before COVID-19 hit. This was at Cameron Pass in Colorado. Incredible solitude. Way outside my comfort zone."
When Scott was a senior in high school, his parents dropped a bombshell: the family was moving across the country to North Carolina. The problem was Cal State Fullerton had already accepted him. Not prepared to stay behind and attend Fullerton on his own, he applied late to NC State, paid their crazy out-of-state fees, and traded the Pacific Ocean for the Atlantic. While the move was fairly traumatic, one thing that helped him adjust right away was joining NC State’s marching band. A trumpet player through high school (“The coolest of the dorks.”), Scott assembled a friend group quickly through long hours of practicing formations and enduring freezing weather. Today, as his family still lives there, it’s where “home” is, despite his Californian ties.
In many rom-com movies, the leads often get together after a series of misunderstandings, humorous encounters, and charming circumstances. Scott and his wife Morgan have a rom-comish meet-cute story. While briefly living in Northern California, Scott met his wife at an impromptu taco night. She was visiting her brother, and while they hit it off, nothing came of the meeting as they were already in other relationships. That should have been the end, but they kept running into each other in San Francisco once or twice a year, a town neither of them lived in. After running into each other on accident for several years, they finally thought some purposeful time was in order. They’ve been together ever since.
"I married way, way up," Scott says. "I'm incredibly lucky to be with Morgan. She adds so much fun to my life, and brings out the spontaneous side of me."
"My grandma was a huge part of my childhood and was the flower girl at our wedding. This is one of the last pictures I have with her before she passed."
While their initial get-together might have been a long time coming, they wasted no time once together, with their long-distance relationship quickly accelerating to seeing each other every other week. The Statuspage acquisition by Atlassian lined up perfectly to get them both out to San Francisco together, where they spent about another year before hitting the gas on life, getting engaged, married, and expecting their first child all within 5 months of each other. Today they live in Seattle and have their hands full with two children, Quinn and Jack. Morgan is a theater musician and voiceover artist. As a professionally trained singer, you can expect their karaoke skills are epic. (Or at least on her side, anyway.)
Despite his hectic schedule, Scott still loves to be outside, doing something active and social. He goes back to some of the same interests he’s had forever: sports and games. Scott still plays golf and has traded baseball for recreational softball, playing either shortstop or third baseman. “Arguably, this is not a smart move as an adult. You get rockets blasted at you all the time,” he says wryly. While you’ll find him rooting for the Seahawks and Broncos, you also might encounter him if you ever play speed chess online.
"The venue was stunning, heavily wooded, just outside of Seattle. My best friend was kind enough to officiate."
"Our guest list included the residents of this barn: 8 goats, 10 chickens, 4 sheep. Also, a donkey named Stinky who we visit every year on Valentine's Day."
These days weekends are exclusively for family time. Whether it’s taking the kids to the park or having family and friends over for drinks, Scott enjoys the company of those closest to him. Recently, he’s been getting into gardening, showing his three-year-old daughter how things grow and where food comes from. “It’s all baby plants right now. We’ll plant more seed for lettuce soon, but we’ve got tomatoes and cucumbers going already.”
"Quinn turned 3 in May and is firmly in the threenager phase. She's also incredibly sweet and loves when I tell her made-up stories of animals."
Jack was born on February 23rd, 3 weeks early, but healthy as could be.
Like many kids who grew up in Orange County, Scott’s first job was at a theme park. In his case: Knott’s Berry Farm, a former berry stand and chicken dinner restaurant that implemented attractions to entertain visitors waiting for a restaurant seat. Not a character mascot or a ride operator, Scott was a busboy at an Italian buffet. “My parents said, ‘Hey, it's summer. If you want some money, you need to earn it.’ It was really fun and a good foray into earning money for yourself.”
Fast forward a few years, and he’s curious about starting a business. During his senior year in college, Scott selected a capstone program with an entrepreneurial focus. By this point, he’d worked a few internships, and the idea of controlling his own destiny and building things appealed immensely. It was through this program that he first began starting companies.
Scott never set out to build an empire. He’s mainly interested in working on impactful things. “I've never been an ambitious, career track person. I just was very curious about all the things related to starting a company. I wanted to do the tech, but I’m also interested in the sales and product management aspects. There's something about going from zero to one with computer stuff that’s forever exciting to me; that going from nothing to something.”