Book a 15 minute one-on-one session with me on Intro! Love this app. Click here for more: intro.co/matthiggins

Founder. Operator. Investor. Educator. No matter the role, I’ve always believed in trusting your instincts and never outsourcing your judgment.
 
That mindset has led me down an unconventional path from poverty to investor. I grew up in Queens, hawking flowers on street corners and working at McDonald’s to help put food on the table. On a mission to transcend poverty as fast as possible, I dropped out of high school at 16 to work full-time and enroll in college early.
 
Over the next decade, I earned a law degree from Fordham at night and began a career as the youngest press secretary in NYC history, where I helped manage the global press response to 9/11.
 
I went on to be an executive for two NFL teams, found/invest in some of the most dynamic brands through RSE Ventures, and become a guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank (seasons 10-11) as well as an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where I co-teach "Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer." 
 
Always looking to meet great founders and the people who invest in them.

Follow me on Twitter @MHiggins.

Matt Higgins

Some of the world’s most transformative technologies don’t start in labs. 

They start in elite competitive arenas where performance demands are highest, failure is immediate, and innovators are forced to redefine what is possible.

Think about Ferrari. 

Ferrari began as a racing company, not a consumer brand.

Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, it used Formula 1 as a proving ground where engineering was tested under the harshest conditions imaginable. The road cars the world covets were not born from showroom whiteboards or hypothetical demos. They were forged on unforgiving circuits where speed, reliability, and performance determine the difference between success and failure. 

Only after technology was validated on the track was it transferred to road cars, making Ferrari a rare example of a company where the consumer product is the byproduct of elite competition. Racing was not a marketing exercise. 

It was the foundation of Ferrari’s engineering DNA.

That same dynamic is happening in drones today.

Almost a decade ago, I wrote the first check into The Drone Racing League, where elite pilots flew custom-built drones at over 100 miles per hour through complex three-dimensional courses, pushing hardware and software to the limits of physics and human reflexes.

Broadcast live on ESPN, from stadiums in France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia to arenas in Las Vegas, Miami, and Phoenix, our racing drones were pushed to their limits across the globe.

Whether in competition or high-performance test environments, they were flown under extreme conditions, exposing weaknesses instantly and forcing rapid iteration at the edge of what the systems could handle. Even a few nanoseconds of latency between drone and pilot could mean a crash before the pilot realized it had happened. 

This was the original no-fail drone mission.

The technologies developed there were not just for sport. They proved real-world value and opened a path to far higher stakes, including national security, battlefield advantage, and life-saving applications.

That insight informed our next chapter: co-founding Huntsville, Alabama-based PDW with Nicholas Horbaczewski, Ryan Gury, and Trevor Smith.

What began as performance-driven racing technology evolved into a company building next-generation tactical drones and autonomous systems for defense and public safety. PDW’s systems, including the C100, are now deployed at every level of the United States military.

In the same way Ferrari’s racing pedigree became the foundation of its engineering excellence, elite platforms like drone racing accelerate innovation by demanding leaps traditional product development rarely forces.

The lesson is simple: find your hardest arena, compete there, and let that pressure forge products that matter.

CEO and Cofounder at RSE Ventures | WSJ Bestselling Author: Burn the Boats, Harper Collins, 2023 | Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School

Gondeck Services LLC

Gondeck Services is a service provider for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Our service provides community outings to individuals in rural communities. We strive to provide a memorable, enjoyable experience for our participants.

Founder/Operator

National Treasure 

Founder of National Treasure Search a free service to raise awareness of unclaimed money and help people claim their funds

Founder

Micoley.com

I work with both buyers and sellers.  Information and knowledge are key when buying and selling real estate.  I strive to provide both throughout the sales process.

Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

RealtyHive

Cashifyd came to life as an idea in 2018.  I have been fortunate to be involved with the mobile app development process from conception through manifestation.   Cashifyd is looking to reshape the service-tech space. 

Cashifyd is the consumer-centric approach to buying real estate.  It empowers consumers in a way not previously available at such a scale.  A consumer-first approach has long been anticipated in Real Estate, Cashifyd delivers on that every step of the way.  

Cashifyd provides consumers the ability to privately submit their buying criteria to real estate agents, in real-time. Agents then have the ability to bid a portion of their potential commission back to the buyer as an incentive to work with them.   This gives the buyers the ability to view agent proposals without having to be solicited by agents. It also gives the buyers the ability to receive real financial value for their ability to buy a property.  

Cashifyd will change the way people start their real estate journey.

Founder - Cashifyd

Business Development Executive

Business Development Representative

My passion for people has poured over into my professional life and has forever changed my work philosophy.  Now, I desire to see others strive and achieve their potential.  There is tremendous power in kindness and gratitude, a power that should not be overlooked.  Adapting that type of mindset and putting it into practice creates a type of art, a masterpiece.  

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Matt Higgins

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The Battle

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Matt Higgins's LinkedIn Performance

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