Dunn, Eric oral history | 102740531 | Computer History Museum

Description

Eric Dunn is the CEO of Quicken, Inc., and was an early employee of the company’s previous owner, Intuit. Dunn begins the oral history by describing his early life and education, including a physics undergraduate degree and an MBA from Harvard University. He worked for Bain & Co. and IBM, but his side projects, including an early digital music synthesizer and a calendar program, fostered an interest in consumer software. He officially joined the personal finance software startup, Intuit, in 1986.
Dunn describes the series of pivots and reinventions he helped Intuit undergo to become, and remain, successful over more than three decades. Dunn put in long hours with Intuit cofounder Tom Proulx to keep Intuit’s flagship product, Quicken, up to date, porting it to the ProDOS platform and writing DOS Quicken 2 in the programming language C. Dunn accidentally created a bug in Quicken 2, which challenged the Intuit team but proved its commitment to customers and comfort with mistakes. As Dunn evolved from programmer to CFO, he recalls a difficult QuickBooks launch, delays in porting DOS Quicken 4 to Windows, and competition from Microsoft Money. Intuit’s successful IPO in 1993 prompted major changes, including a merger with Chipsoft, the creator of TurboTax. Dunn stepped down as CFO and transitioned to running the Quicken business.
Dunn retired from Intuit in 2000 and spent the following ten years as an angel and venture capital investor. He returned to Intuit in 2010 to work on strategic payments initiatives. In 2015, he assumed his previous role running the Quicken business, even after it split off as a separate company. Dunn describes his efforts as CEO to improve the functionality and user ratings of Quicken amidst competing products. He closes with thoughts about the evolution of the software industry, the challenges facing Silicon Valley, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Date

2019-07-24

Participants

Dunn, Eric, Interviewee

Hancock, Marguerite Gong, Interviewer

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Mountain View, CA

Duration

01:38:10

Format

MOV

Collection Title

CHM Oral History Collection

Credit

Computer History Museum

Lot Number

X9131.2020

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