Matt Kurleto is a serial tech entrepreneur helping customers around the world to improve their business with AI and blockchain. He is also the CEO of Neoteric, a software development company that specialise in cloud and APIs, and an advisor on digital transformation, investments and building innovation labs for enterprises. In this interview Matt shares his thoughts on artificial intelligence and gives essential insight into what it takes to build a successful tech company from scratch!
Please could you give a brief summary of your career journey that led you to become the CEO of Neoteric…
Well, it all started with my first paid job as a kid assembling PCs for friends and neighbours. Since my dad is a system administrator I then supported companies he worked at with setting up servers and networks.
I started Neoteric on my second year of university, working with freelancers on simple apps and more complex websites and E-commerce solutions. Following my dreams of building custom software we moved up the market with our projects.
I started building the company for real in 2012 when I hired my first permanent member of staff. Two years later we became a LTD company and in 2016 my associates joined me; Mateusz Paprocki, who’s currently our COO and Grzegorz Gwoźdź as the CTO with me staying in the CEO position.
How did the idea for Neoteric originate?
I’ve always seen entrepreneurship as my dream and way of living; pursuing this dream has been a natural choice for me.
What’s the most important aspect of your role as CEO of Neoteric?
Vision and strategy; people work best when they can take full responsibility for the business outcomes of their efforts.
Please can you tell ur readers more about Neoteric: your structure and how you operate as a company…
The main principle of our management structure at Neoteric is to serve people that work with customers. We take all the friction out of the development process by engaging every person from the team directly with decision makers. This is essential to the success of any project.
Working with Neoteric starts with Scoping Workshops that take a few days to a couple of weeks. We leverage the experience of building successful software solutions to make the best product roadmap, this includes choosing the right tech-stack.
Do you have any recent successful case studies that you’d like to share?
We are lucky to work with amazing customers like RapidSOS that manage the flow of emergency responses in in the US, through implementing SaaS Manager and reducing churn by 25%.
I’m currently involved in techSeed.me accelerator where we help experienced business founders craft great software products by offering top tech mentors, educational programs, access to VCs and $50k non-equity.
CEO, business development manager, entrepreneur, writer… that’s a lot of roles and skills, which are your favourites?
Building a company from scratch means wearing lots of hats; I still remember the day when I’d bring a vacuum cleaner from home to tidy the office! Throughout my 18+ years of entrepreneurship I’ve had a few roles that I’ve developed myself to the point where I could conduct trainings, workshops and webinars, spending over 100 days teaching software development, business analysis and project management.
I couldn’t imagine myself in a better position than now, being able to learn from the team we have, the customers we serve and the world class mentors that share their expertise.
I found myself to be the best at building winning strategies for new ventures. It’s only possible with the support of great leaders that have joined me and shared my vision of becoming a global leader in venture building, digital transformation and end-to-end product development.
Enough about business, what are your hobbies outside of work?
I’m addicted to watching TV series by seasons and spend as much time as possible travelling. I also work closely with Gdansk Entrepreneurship Foundation which is a non-profit organisation supporting youth education in Gdansk. We have just created an acceleration program for foreign business founders to come and get to the seed round with us, offering a $50k non-equity funding and membership program focussed on building great software products. It sounds like work but I assure you it isn’t!
Finally, what’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?
Ania Jakubowski shared how she approached building great culture as a leader, which prompted me to meet every team member to learn what makes Neoteric so special. I learned that our culture goes way beyond ‘great atmosphere’; ‘Pizza Fridays’ and ‘unlimited remote working’. Putting freedom and responsibility at the top of the list – especially when it comes to hiring and promoting staff – means we create personal friendships that go way beyond professional relationships.