Matt Brown: Business Innovator & Disruptor

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

One of the Stories of Inspirational Entrepreneurs, Matt has launched over ten businesses. Some were successful and he sold them. Others didn’t work out. His entrepreneurial journey has been filled with ups and downs, but he has learned something from every decision he’s made. His belief? The most important step is the next one, the one you take when things get tough.

“The first business in our group of companies, Digital Kungfu, generated £12 million in sales qualified pipeline for our clients in 12 months because we kept looking for a better way to do things. We believe that the challenge is the way, and that business happens for you, not to you, but only if you’re always willing to take the next step. In our group of companies, we have a simple mantra: be willing to fail, but make sure you fail fast,” says Matt.

The ability to fail requires grit and resilience, not because it’s difficult to fail, but because each time you do, you have to get back up, learn the lesson and then change what you’re doing. According to Matt, it’s a process of constant evolution, which is how you find the solutions that disrupt markets and change the game. Within the company’s walls it’s known as “QBE” or “qualified by experience,” and each lesson learnt is worn as a badge of honour.

Agile, adaptive and willing to learn

Black Swan Technology Holdings works exclusively with technology businesses. The brands within the holding company provide demand generation and pipeline acceleration solutions through proprietary platform technology that forms the foundation of how Matt and his team are delivering on their promise to re-engineer economic possibility.

“Technology moves quickly. It also has the power to create a compelling economic future for all humanity. Our group of companies sits at the epicentre of the technology ecosystem, and we take our role seriously, which is why it’s so important to always be learning, and willing to review and adjust our mindsets,” says Matt.

It’s a simple lesson that takes both strength of character and experience. You can’t solve a problem with the same point of view that created it in the first place. As a team, Black Swan never stops executing because the company knows that failure isn’t about finding ten thousand ways that something doesn’t work – it’s about discovering and building the one way that does.

As the host of The Matt Brown Show, a podcast that features entrepreneurs and game changers from around the world, and which is available in more than 100 countries, Matt has engaged with some of the most inspiring minds in the world.

“I’ve learnt how powerful it is to keep an open mind, and to adjust my perceptions and assumptions based on new data inputs. We’ve carried these lessons into the business and instil them in our team, making us agile and adaptive, two traits that have served us well in this time of accelerated change,” Matt states.

Matt Brown isn’t scared of an audacious goal. In fact, his group of companies, Black Swan Technology Holdings has a single purpose: To re-engineer economic possibility through technology. And he isn’t thinking local. His sights are set on making a measurable impact on the global stage.

Real market disruption requires a mix of innovation, grit, resilience, and the ability to fail fast and learn faster, all characteristics that Matt and his team have in spades.

Building the people who will build the business

While there are many different types of successful business leaders in the world, and everyone approaches leadership slightly differently, Matt personally believes that the three most important elements to successful leadership are authenticity, purpose, and vision.

“Authenticity is critical across the board in business. Brands must be authentic, but this is only possible if it begins at the leadership level. If you’re authentic, your team will be authentic, and this starts with understanding what your values are and ensuring full buy-in,” says Matt.

At its core, purpose is all about contributing to something bigger than yourself. Matt is passionate about growing people and sees business as a way to do that. As a start-up, Digital Kungfu focused on growing its employees, and the expanded Black Swan group has taken this even further, with opportunity creation one of the founder values and core pillars of the business.

Finally, visionary leadership bridges the gap between purpose and how the business reaches its purpose through its people. The company’s leadership philosophy is clear: It believes that every person on its collective team is as talented and as brilliant as the next and has the same capacity for transformational growth and pioneering accomplishments. Matt and his exco remind their team members of this fact on a daily basis.

“We have a clear and compelling idea of how the future should look and we execute daily on the steps that we believe will make that future a reality. As a team we lead, motivate and inspire each other to become better today than it was yesterday,” says Matt.

Innovation is baked in

The business is currently in scale-up phase. Digital Kungfu, the first company in the Black Swan Technology Holdings group, has grown into a successful and game-changing pipeline generation business for technology companies, reinvesting its profits into the growth of new businesses and solutions. These include Pipeline Generator, a pipeline generation and digital skills upliftment program, FireSaleHardware, a hardware marketplace that bridges the gap between businesses looking for affordable technology, and brands that have surplus stock and need to focus on their newest models, and TechLeadBay, the group’s ‘hive intelligence company,’ a growth engine for marketers and sales professionals.

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