Matt Cook is a writer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. He wrote the first draft of his debut thriller novel, Sabotage, at nineteen while an undergraduate at Stanford University; released in 2014 by Tor/Forge, the book became a Los Angeles Times bestseller. A close-up magician trained at the Magic Castle, Matt has performed in Hollywood and across the globe. For his support of the military, he was honored with the President’s Call to Service Award.

Matt created The Startup Star in 2010 with Jon Zhang. Published by the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students, their entrepreneurial success book features advice from CEOs, founders, and venture capitalists of Silicon Valley. Matt’s first book, published when he was a sophomore, was honored by the American Authors Association with the Golden Quill Award in the business genre.

In 2010 Matt cofounded California Common Sense (cacs.org), a nonprofit dedicated to government transparency and data-driven policy analysis. The organization’s research and data have appeared in Bloomberg, Reuters, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, ABC, Fox, NBC, CBS, Fox Business Network, The Huffington Post, The LA Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, The Sacramento Bee, The San Diego Union Tribune, and NPR.

Matt’s hobbies include scuba, piano, and travel. He now pursues an Economics doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania.

Awards

 

SABOTAGE placed on the top ten LA Times bestseller list in early 2015. Matt’s first book, FEARLESS, was awarded the Golden Quill Award in the business genre by the American Authors Association.