Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Matlow
Hi Jeff, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
It’s been a long and winding road that has led me to your interview question.
I come from a long line of entrepreneurs throughout my extended family. For instance, my parents, siblings and grandparents are entrepreneurs, and of my 14 first cousins, 10 of them are entrepreneurs.
I didn’t ask for entrepreneurial genes, they were forced on me.
I started my first company when I was 11 years old, but that story is for an entirely different bottle of whiskey.
As I was graduating college, I knew I wanted to work in the music business. And, for reasons that are beyond my level of comprehension, I was destined to move from Connecticut to Los Angeles.
I started working for some record labels and was involved with a bunch of different artists, including James Brown, Everclear, Al Green and a ton of others. Fast forward a couple of years and I found a band that I really loved so I decided to start my own record label.
I suppose that was the pivotal point when my life changed – I’m still trying to determine if it’s for the better or worse. Probably both.
I started a record label and, yadda yadda yadda, I had a pretty good start. Within 3 years it was acquired by Interscope/Universal Music.
While I was growing my record label, I had to market the music I was putting out (duh). It turns out I was pretty good at it and next thing I know, I’m being hired by entertainment companies (Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, etc) to market their products for them.
Enter company #2: A marketing agency
I had separated the marketing efforts from the record company so when I sold the record label, I focused on building the marketing agency. I realized the money was really in corporate America. So after a couple years of a concerted effort to change, we ended up developing go-to-market strategies for Fortune 500s (Citibank, Kraft, Nestle, etc.)
That company got acquired by Alloy Marketing which, at the time, was a $1b publicly traded media and marketing company. I became General Manager. We worked with 60% of Fortune 500s.
I was there for four years before I decided to leave.
I’d been a runner and triathlete for decades and come from a family of runners and triathletes. However, I was still in Los Angeles and they were on the East Coast. So I decided on a whim to start a Wikipedia-like site for sporting events (keep in mind, there are now a few of them that are doing well – 10 years after I started mine).
The site started getting traction, so I took a deep dive into the sports industry to figure out where the opportunity was. I figured it out right when I found an online registration company in Alabama that I could acquire. I bought it for no money up front, just royalties. In the end, he made 10x more than he could’ve ever sold it for.
Anyhoo, I found myself suddenly going up against a billion dollar competitor who had 96% market share. But I had a better idea and the agility to do it.
I pitched USA Triathlon for their business and, lo and behold, I beat out the billion-dollar leader. There was only one problem: I didn’t have a website yet or the technology they needed. I had to get it built in 3 months.
I did. With an incredible CTO, we launched the site at 11:50pm on December 31, 2010. Our first client (the Triathlon Olympic Championships) went live 10 minutes later.
Within 18 months we were the leader in the technology for the triathlon business and within another 18 months we were the leading provider for large scale endurance events.
In 2019, Gannett Media / USA Today bought that company.
Since then, I spend my time rapidly transforming teams into highly-productive, collaborative business units. I teach them to avoid all the mistakes I made.
I also coach senior leaders (VP+) at Fortune 1000 companies.
It all sounds good on paper, doesn’t it?
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s never a smooth road. Whoever tells you it is, is lying.
What were some of the struggles? I suppose the best answer is: choose your category.
Financial
There was that time where we had a client that suddenly clicked in and started growing incredibly fast. By millions of dollars per year. They quickly began to represent over 60% of our revenue. I raised outside funds to support the growth.
There was only one problem… 2 weeks before we were going to close the funds, the client’s company went out of business (long story).
I was in deep trouble and it got to a point where on Monday night I didn’t have enough money to cover payroll for the next Tuesday morning.
In the end, I didn’t cover payroll on Tuesday, but the deal closed on Tuesday and funds were transferred, so I was able to get payroll out on Wednesday.
Hiring
At one company, my CTO and I decided to part ways. Once we decided, he immediately checked out so I was very much in need of finding someone else – and I didn’t have the network in that arena to find somebody quickly. I ended up hiring the person my departing CTO recommended. (Learning, never take the hiring recommendation of somebody who is leaving).
It was a bad hire for me. As I learned later, he completely did not have the skillset we needed to grow the company, nor did he have the personality. He set us back more than he moved us forward. I ended up replacing him, but didn’t do it fast enough. It’s never fast enough.
I’ve got lots of examples. That’s the thing about entrepreneurialism, it’s a roller coaster ride. Everything is amazing and then suddenly everything is terrible… sometimes at the same time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Best Leadership Company?
People tend to call me a leadership therapist. That’s kinda it, but not really. I’ve been called a consultant and coach too, but I don’t like either of those terms. The reality is that what I do combines them all.
In a nutshell, I help people quickly become much better leaders (and better people in the process).
I rapidly transform teams into high-growth, collaborative business units.
I mostly focus on founder-led, growth-stage companies – or departments of enterprise-level companies. They are usually between 30 and 300 people in size. The problems they usually experience may include:
– lack of alignment
– lack of accountability
– decreased productivity
– overwork
– slowed revenue growth
– declining culture
I make those teams into well-oiled, highly-tuned productivity machines… at the same time, I ensure there’s fun and life balance in the mix.
Sometimes it starts with me conducting a workshop – either around aligning on company identity, working on leadership team alignment, or helping define the growth strategy and roadmap to get there.
More often than not, that leads to me being asked to help guide the implementation of the process and/or be a leadership success coach or business therapist for team members.
Have you seen the show Billions?
I’m a cross between Maggie Siff’s character (the success coach at Axe Capital) and a strategically minded operations consultant.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
That’s the thing about entrepreneurs, people think we’re risk takers but most of us are highly risk averse. It’s just that we’re better than the average bear when it comes to calculated risk.
But I haven’t answered your question yet. Have I taken any major risks?
Completely.
After I graduated college, I decided to pack my VW Rabbit with all my belongings and drive from Connecticut to Los Angeles simply because I had a job interview. I didn’t really know anybody – I had one friend who lived with his girlfriend and I crashed on their floor until I found a place to live.
The interview went very poorly. I didn’t get the job.
So I had to find temp jobs while I did whatever I could to get a job at a record company. After 6 months I finally bugged somebody enough to hire me.
What other risks have I taken?
Well, I quit my (very good) job to start a company with only $10,000 to do it. I didn’t realize it was a risk back then but in hindsight, I was a complete buffoon. Fortunately I also am a lucky buffoon.
I have lots of thoughts about risk. In fact, I’ve written a variety of articles about the importance of getting out of your comfort zone (which is kinda the definition of risk).
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We interrupt this answer for a little bit of self-promotion.
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OK, where was I? Oh yeah, risk.
I’m all about calculated risk. I look at the data, I assess the options and then I make a decision. If I can test the decision first, I absolutely do that. I don’t see risk taking as an all-or-none game. It’s about agility. I’ll take a risk and ensure I get feedback. If it doesn’t work, I’ll alter things and get more feedback. I repeat that cycle until such point as what I’m trying to do actually works, or I realize I need to give up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ByTitleOnly.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebestleadership
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBestLeadership
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bytitleonly
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBestLeadershipPodcast
- Other: https://www.TheBestLeadershipNewsletter.com
Image Credits
all images Jeff Matlow
