George Cook is the Co-Founder and CEO of Honeycomb Credit, a VC-backed loan crowdfunding website that allows locally owned small businesses to borrow expansion loans from their own loyal customers and fans. Honeycomb unlocks fair growth capital for Main Street businesses, while simultaneously enabling anyone to invest local in their own communities.
Born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania, George is a sixth-generation community banker. His community banking roots have driven him to look into new methods of capital formation and access to credit for small businesses. He started Honeycomb to counter the adverse effects of community banking consolidation and to provide small businesses an alternative to predatory products that do more harm than good. Prior to founding Honeycomb Credit, George worked at TransUnion and ZestFinance to develop state-of-the-art data analytics tools that help lenders extend credit quickly and fairly.
George has presented on trends in financial technology, community building, and the power of local investing at venues including ComCap, the Midwest Asset Building Conference, Finovate and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from George Washington University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.