Matthew Scullion, CEO and founder of Matillion, knows a thing or two about AI.
His business joined an exclusive club of only 41 UK unicorns in 2021 when a $150m Series E funding round took its valuation beyond the magical $1bn mark.
He estimates Matillion has invested 鈥榤any, many tens of millions into Maia鈥�, which is its AI data automation platform.
鈥淭his market is crazy and one of the things AI is doing is reducing the barriers to entry to develop software,鈥� he said.
He told that AI could mean multi-million turnover companies could have only one or two members of staff.
鈥淓stablished multi ten or hundred million pound companies (will be) disappearing because AI makes their business model irrelevant,鈥� he warned.
Scullion is best known as the founder of Matillion, but he co-founded a software company at the age of 17 and has been building tech teams for 30 years.
It was back in 2011 that he and his co-founder Ed Thompson both gave up their well-paid jobs to launch Matillion.
In 2014/15, Matillion employed 12 people and had an ARR of less than $1m when they made the decision to build their own software. Six years later, they became a unicorn.
Matillion has offices in Manchester and the US, as well as a presence in Hyderabad, India.
The company has grown ARR to nine digits and staff numbers to nearly 500.
Scullion always had something about him and was described in an article in The Times in 2021 as a 鈥榗heeky, slightly belligerent teenager鈥�.
After his French teacher at Altrincham Grammar School predicted he鈥檇 get an E in his GCSE, he revised solidly for 24 hours and ended up getting an A.
While a lot of founders would have seen achieving unicorn status as the end of the journey, Scullion described it as nothing more than 鈥榓 moment in time鈥�.
He also lifted the lid on the reality of how much hard work is required to be a unicorn CEO on The Naked Founder.
Hard work
He told The Naked Founder podcast: 鈥淎nother thing I often say to people considering starting their own business is you can鈥檛 half do it. You鈥檝e got to be all in. It鈥檚 like a totally all-consuming thing.
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this 15 years. I feel like we are half-way through the first move on the chess board.
鈥淚 still work at 2x + of a normal working week, every week and that鈥檚 structured at desk time.
Matillion CEO Matt Scullion with Chris Maguire on The Naked Founder podcast
鈥淥n top of that you鈥檙e constantly travelling. Anytime I鈥檓 not in a meeting on Zoom, talking to a customer or doing something structured that is diarised, you鈥檙e thinking about the business all the time. That鈥檚 15 years in. That鈥檚 what you鈥檙e signing yourself up for.
鈥淚t鈥檚 why I always say as a bit of a joke if you want to found a consequential business the first thing is to either be single or marry well. It鈥檚 all in for years and it never lets up.鈥�
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The episode was sponsored by Financielle.