Credit Karma

This case traces the entrepreneurial journey of Kenneth Lin, founder and CEO of Credit Karma, from his upbringing in an immigrant household in Las Vegas through the company’s eventual acquisition by Intuit. Raised by parents whose restaurant and side ventures instilled a hustling, entrepreneurial ethos, Lin worked in the credit card and online mortgage industries before founding Multilytics, a profitable marketing agency serving Fortune 500 financial services clients. In 2007, frustrated by the cost and difficulty of accessing his own credit file, he launched Credit Karma with a then-radical premise: giving consumers free access to credit scores in an industry built on charging for them.

The case follows Lin through a sequence of high-stakes decision points. First, he must choose between his stable, income-generating agency and his ambitious startup when a prospective investor demands full focus. Second, amid the 2008 financial crisis and after more than 100 rejected pitches, he must weigh a punishing term sheet that would cede majority ownership and control against the risk of running out of cash. Third, when TransUnion terminates Credit Karma’s critical data-sharing agreement with 30 days’ notice, Lin must win over a senior executive through a cold email and a make-or-break breakfast meeting. Finally, as the company scales to roughly $600 million in revenue by 2016, Lin navigates slowing growth, investor and employee liquidity pressures, and a complex acquisition negotiation with Intuit, one thrown into jeopardy by the COVID-19 pandemic, plunging revenue, and conflicting signals from an anxious board and a reassuring acquirer CEO. The case closes with Lin caught between austerity and conviction, deciding whom to trust and what he is willing to concede to close the deal while protecting his three non-negotiables: valuation, mission and independence, and fair treatment of employees.