Scott Painter

Painter was born in Seattle on September 30, 1968 and grew up in Placer County, California, near Sacramento.[5] He started his first company, Scott's Auto Dealing, at the age of 14.[6][7] After high school, he joined the United States Army and trained to become a Spanish interrogator.[7] He attended West Point, where he studied military strategy and systems engineering. While at West Point he served as class president before transferring to UC Berkeley where he studied political economics.[8]

Painter left UC Berkeley prior to graduation to sell his first auto-related startup company, AUTOAccess, an electronic database of used cars for sale. Prior to founding TrueCar, he initiated and was involved in other ventures.[2][5][8][9][10][11] Painter was also an early advisor to Tesla.[12][13]

Painter at race track with TrueCar Racing

In 2005, Painter founded TrueCar, Inc.NASDAQ: TRUE, which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.[14] TrueCar is a negotiation-free car buying platform.[3] TrueCar provides car-buyers with a transparent insight into what other buyers have paid, upfront pricing information, and a network of TrueCar certified dealers.[15]

In August 2015, Painter stepped down as CEO.[16] He was replaced by Chip Perry as of Dec.15, 2015.[17]

Painter’s current venture is Fair, Inc., an automotive financial technology company.

In late 2011, TrueCar raised significant debt and equity capital (>$200m) which enabled it to advertise nationally on television.[18] Consumer usage increased in response to the television campaign that was developed in conjunction with TrueCar investor Guthy-Renker, but dealer and industry criticism was significant and well documented in a series of Automotive News articles.[19][20] Painter, who is commonly associated with vehicle pricing transparency, up-front pricing and the value of big data in auto retail, received pushback from auto dealers and manufacturers over the fear that TrueCar was responsible for significant retail price discounting.[21] The industry resistance led to nearly a dozen states launching investigations into the company's practices and policies.[19][21][22] As a result, Painter and TrueCar underwent a nine-month regulatory compliance overhaul and initiated industry outreach programs. TrueCar went through a business turnaround in 2012 that resulted in the company reporting in its S-1 filing that it had generated positive adjusted EBITDA in 2013 after having lost over $40 million in 2012.[20][23] In November 2012, Painter spoke directly to the industry about the current status of TrueCar in an Autoline TV interview and Painter was also recently featured in Forbes.[19][21] In November 2012, TrueCar went back on television with new commercials and a completely new version of its web experience for both dealers and consumers.[19]

The Technology Council of Southern California named Painter its 2009 and 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year.[24][25] In 2011 and 2014, he was named a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Greater Los Angeles Area.[26] Painter won the EY Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in consumer services for 2014.[26]

In 2011, Scott became a member of the Swiss non-profit organization known as the World Economic Forum.[27] In 2012, Painter was named a Technology Pioneer by the WEF.[27]

In 2011, Painter launched TrueCar Racing, an all-female racing team, co-sponsored by Penske Media Corporation and Virgin Group.[28][29] The racing team supported high-potential women aspiring to become premier race series race car drivers. TrueCar and its partners provided full sponsorship support, professional coaching and training, marketing exposure, and top-tier racing team opportunities throughout the U.S. with the goal of winning races and championships.[28]

Painter was one of the youngest members to join of the Board of Governors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.[30]

Scott Painter lives in Los Angeles with his four children.[31]

• Official TrueCar Website