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Why entrepreneurs love our program.

Design Thinking

Why entrepreneurs love our program.

Shared by Nadya Lev [https://medium.com/u/8acc6f639be4?source=post_page-----5b784852f2bd--------------------------------] , CEO of Aconite [http://Aconite.co], part of Matter Six. Going through Matter was one of the most intense, rewarding experiences of my life. With Matter’s guidance, my co-founder and I were able to take a deeper

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E6: Matt Hartman— Partner, Betaworks

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E6: Matt Hartman— Partner, Betaworks

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that, as an early stage entrepreneur, the better you know how investors think, the better you’ll know how to pitch to them when you’re fundraising. That’s why we have Matt Hartman [https://medium.com/u/8fe961141dd3?source=post_page-----61d4fbf2d58e--------------------------------] , Partner at

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E5: Jessica Lessin— Founder, The Information

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E5: Jessica Lessin— Founder, The Information

Our guest on this episode is an incredible example of a journalist turned media entrepreneur: Jessica Lessin [https://medium.com/u/e8174f04826d?source=post_page-----1fdf39c4fe9b--------------------------------] , former Wall Street Journal reporter, now at the helm of the in-depth business/technology subscription publication, The Information. [https://www.theinformation.com/] Before she founded

Rules for Rebelpreneurs

Venture Capital

Rules for Rebelpreneurs

Top highlight Journalists are under threat in our country — people don’t trust the news, fake publications and “alternative facts” make it an increasingly burdensome task to identify the truth, and multiple figures in the White House, including the president, have declared the media to be the “Enemy of the

It’s time for media to step up.

Entrepreneurship

It’s time for media to step up.

Top highlight Matter [http://matter.vc] has always set out to create a more informed, connected, and empowered society. We hope to invest in diverse teams [http://matter.vc/apply], and teams supporting under-represented communities. When more of our communities are involved in building media platforms, and served by our

Be Better!

Top highlight Last year I had the honor of participating in the United State of Women Summit [https://www.theunitedstateofwomen.org/], a gathering focused on gender equality and empowerment that kicked-off the #StateofWomen movement. Oprah Winfrey, in one of the plenary sessions, asked, “what can men leaving here [Summit] do?

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E4: Melissa Bell — Publisher, Vox Media

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E4: Melissa Bell — Publisher, Vox Media

We’re back with another incredible media entrepreneur whose story of scrappiness and tenacity shows that, with the right mindset, anything is possible. Melissa Bell [https://medium.com/u/d1c979c350ff?source=post_page-----181069750139--------------------------------] is one of the co-founders of Vox.com [http://vox.com], Vox Media’s news and opinion

Beyond targeted advertising

Beyond targeted advertising

Advertising is in crisis. More than one third of online ad traffic is fraudulent [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304026304579453253860786362], and the ads are so annoying that more than a quarter of users block them [https://www.iab.com/insights/ad-blocking-blocks-ads-win-back/]. Half of ads are never seen [https://www.comscore.

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E3: Chloe Sladden— Founding Partner, #Angels

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E3: Chloe Sladden— Founding Partner, #Angels

Welcome to the next installment of our 6-part podcast series sharing the personal stories that illustrate the tumultuous journey of the media entrepreneur. Our guest this week, Chloe Sladden [https://medium.com/u/1a5c33c573a0?source=post_page-----8740853d3ea7--------------------------------] , has worked as an assistant to a literary agent, a management consultant in

Why Misinfocon gives me hope

Why Misinfocon gives me hope

Let’s start with this: if you don’t know what Misinfocon is or what it’s all about, you should [https://news.matter.vc/misinfocon/misinfocon-a-summit-on-misinformation-feb-24-26-at-mit-media-lab-the-nieman-foundation-for] . The summit, which took place the last weekend of February at the MIT Media Lab, brought together 200 thought leaders tackling misinformation who

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E2: Peter Koechley— Co-founder, Upworthy

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E2: Peter Koechley— Co-founder, Upworthy

We’re excited to have you along for the next episode in our The Drunken Walk [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drunken-walk/id1213605129] podcast series. This time our guest is Peter Koechley, the co-founder and co-CEO of Upworthy. You know how that hockey stick curve, up and to the

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E1: Danielle Morrill — CEO, Mattermark

🎧 The Drunken Walk, S1-E1: Danielle Morrill — CEO, Mattermark

Welcome to The Drunken Walk [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drunken-walk/id1213605129], a new podcast series exploring the journey of the media entrepreneur! At Matter, we know that success doesn’t happen because of a perfect plan. Hypothesis-testing, action, learnings, and adjustments are all a necessary part of innovation.

Securing free speech

Securing free speech

This year, Matter. [https://medium.com/u/5d32fb15ef39?source=post_page-----c117eebf0b48--------------------------------] is hoping to invest in teams working on easy-to-use secure communications. It’s a new area for us, but online security and freedom from surveillance have never been more important, both for media and society. Freedom from surveillance means

In search of human entrepreneurs

In search of human entrepreneurs

Top highlight The myth of the Great Jerk rules over Silicon Valley. Since Steve Jobs ran roughshod over friends, colleagues, and enemies alike, and he was an incredible success, many in the tech world feel it is acceptable and even expected for startup founders to behave in similarly tyrannical fashion.

Matter invests in NewsWhip’s $6.4M Series A

Matter invests in NewsWhip’s $6.4M Series A

Andrew Mullaney (CTO) and Paul Quigley (CEO) co-founded NewsWhip six years ago. Mullaney spent six months as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Matter’s San Francisco office.We’re pleased to announce that Matter is making a follow-on investment in the trending stories platform, NewsWhip [http://newswhip.com]. The Dublin, Ireland-based company

Want to be a part of Matter Seven? Here’s what we look for.

Want to be a part of Matter Seven? Here’s what we look for.

Top highlight Media is under siege, which means so is our democracy — but there is a silver lining. Now more than ever, founders have the opportunity to effect a positive change on society [https://medium.com/@benwerd/69a035759339] and we are looking for the teams that are up to the

Be part of the solution.

Be part of the solution.

Top highlight This moment matters. Matter [http://matter.vc] has always set out to create a more informed, connected, and empowered society, and that mission has never been more important than today. Media is an integral part of democracy, but it faces unprecedented opposition. Even the core idea of truth

Entrepreneurship

Meet Roxann!

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou This is one of my favor quotes of Dr. Maya Angelou, because it encompasses a “scientific law” of creativity that can often be misunderstood. Creativity isn’t a limited resource. The more you deeply

Meet Josh!

As I start at Matter, I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I get to be one of the lucky few who can say they derive meaning from (and enjoy) what they do while making a positive impact on society. When I think about why I feel

Meet Ben!

Top highlight I remember when I first walked through the garage door on Bryant St, to see Corey [https://medium.com/u/19bd8f923725?source=post_page-----3293ac936c69--------------------------------] and Lara [https://medium.com/u/1c1a19bf8966?source=post_page-----3293ac936c69--------------------------------] ’s smiling faces, welcoming us in. I remember the friends I immediately made in

We are ready.

With four new hires, the Matter team is ready to deepen our impact right when it is needed most.

Matter startup Huzza is acquired by Kickstarter

Matter startup Huzza is acquired by Kickstarter

Justin Womersley and Nick Smit of Huzza built and launched Kickstarter Live, a livestreaming feature based on HuzzaHuzza, the livestreaming platform for musicians and artists that was accelerated as part of our Matter Five cohort, has been acquired by the global crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. Last year co-founders Justin Womersley and

“You’re borrowing time now to get more time later.”

“You’re borrowing time now to get more time later.”

Top highlight Danielle Morrill practices radical candor. “I got into Y-Combinator as a solo female founder, probably with the only launched product that had revenue. So I was like feeling like a bada** motherf*****. But then it turned out that [referrals] is a terrible business.” She closed down her YC-backed

The Year of The Rebelpreneur

The Year of The Rebelpreneur

An informed and connected public is the bedrock of democracy. But with our journalistic institutions under threat economically, politically, and culturally, that bedrock is cracking. We need to strengthen our media ecosystem.

Failing fast, getting back to the whiteboard, and starting over

Design Thinking

Failing fast, getting back to the whiteboard, and starting over

Me (left) with my Bootcamp teammates from PRX, The New York Times, and the APThe McClatchy [http://mcclatchy.com] team’s journey with Matter [http://matter.vc] was quite a bit different from the other partners taking part in the 5-month innovation program that mirrors the one Matter offers to