Matt Matros

Founder

Founder with 3 exits in B2C now playing two hands in B2B (insurance and commercial janitorial). | I post daily lessons & learnings that are your shortcuts.

Founder with two 8-figure exits plus an ‘acqui-hire’. My lessons & learnings are your shortcut.

Currently acquiring small businesses across America, across industries.

My inspirations are Scott Galloway and Fareed Zakaria and The Economist. 

I aspire to be the “Rick Rubin for entrepreneurs.”

These opinions are purely my own and not of any of the companies I am affiliated with.

Founder and General Partner

NCC is micro private equity providing capital and support to owner/operators in the commercial cleaning & janitorial industry.

Business builder and investor. 12+ businesses founded. Exited 5. 30+ years of experience. 200K+ readers.

Building beautiful businesses. I’ve spent the last 30 years leading, building, and growing my holding company. 

Entrepreneurship done right makes the world a better place.

My track record of success:
- Employ 600+ people
- Built 12+ businesses across multiple industries
- Audience in the hundreds of thousands
- Chili's & Subaru evangelist (unpaid)

Michael Girdley

You'll be ahead of 95% of people by just: 

• Answering emails/messages in complete sentences 
• Responding promptly 
• Consistently doing what you say you'll do 

The bar is so low.

Thoughts?

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By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

Business builder and investor. 12+ businesses founded. Exited 5. 30+ years of experience. 300K+ readers. Helping US businesses hire amazing talent from LatAm.

The rise of Din Tai Fung: The world's most successful restaurant?!

Most restaurant chains chase fast growth, franchising, and scale at all costs. Din Tai Fung did the opposite—and quietly built one of the most profitable restaurant businesses in the world.

What started as a struggling dumpling stall in Taiwan turned into a global empire generating over $600 million a year, with some locations doing more revenue than steakhouses selling $200 entrées. This video breaks down how obsessive quality control, product-led growth, and disciplined expansion allowed Din Tai Fung to dominate without advertising, franchising, or rushing growth.

We’ll explore how their refusal to cut corners, invest less in staff, or scale too fast created insane sales per restaurant, cult-like demand, and long-term durability—while competitors burned out. If you’re interested in business strategy, brand-building, or how slow growth can outperform hype-driven expansion, this story is a masterclass.

Follow for more deep dives on legendary businesses, strategy, and long-term winners.

Our approach to teaching our kids about passive income was to create the "Bank of Dad." 

I pay 3% interest per month. They are welcome to compound, too. 

10 years later, both boys are cheap as hell and make deposits almost every month. 

When they're 18, we stop the interest. We do it all on a google sheet.

What's your approach to this?

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By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

If a Subaru dealership anywhere in Texas ran its sales process like Tesla does, it'd get all of my business.

The whole "let's talk to the finance manager" and "oh, did we not tell you about the $500 undercoat earlier?" 

This is why I've always kept cars forever.

Thoughts?

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

1) Look around you.

2) See what business has high margins, happy owners, and overwhelming demand

3) Get into that business*

*Bonus points if you change one aspect of it slightly to create a blue ocean for yourself

Thoughts?

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These awards recognize outstanding people under 40 years old who are rising stars in the business community. They are among the most important awards we bestow because they call attention to the fact that a community needs a constant stream of leaders coming up today to stay strong and relevant in the future.

2014 Man of the Year

The San Antonio Business Journal announces the winners of its 2015 40 Under 40 awards.
A select panel of judges consisting of past 40 Under 40 award recipients chose the 2015 winners from more than 110 nominees.

San Antonio Business Journal 40 under 40

TechStars

SAPitch.com

Legacy Geekdom Fund

King William Association

Essential insights for business owners. Sign up and join 44K+ leaders reading my weekly letter.

Girdley's Letter

A 360 solution to find, hire, onboard, pay, and retain top Latin American talent. Fill open positions in under 21 days.

Build High-Performing Remote Teams for 70% Less

HoldCo Conference 2026

The rise of Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl Cookies didn’t just get lucky — they engineered one of the fastest restaurant growth stories in America. Founded in 2017 by two cousins with zero baking experience, Crumbl went from a single Utah storefront to over 1,000 locations by applying tech startup thinking to food.

In this video, we break down how Crumbl used A/B testing to perfect its cookie, leaned into nostalgia-driven demand, and completely reinvented dessert marketing with weekly rotating menus, scarcity, and social-first branding. From viral TikToks to Pantone-designed packaging, Crumbl turned cookies into a game — and customers couldn’t stop playing.

We also explore the franchising model that fueled rapid expansion, the challenges that came with hypergrowth, and whether Crumbl’s first-mover advantage will protect it from rising competitors like Insomnia Cookies and Dirty Dough. This is a must-watch breakdown for anyone interested in business strategy, branding, franchising, or viral marketing.

Follow for more business and brand breakdowns every week.

Panera just posted their first revenue decline in 25 years. Down 5%. 

But the real number that tells the story? Their Net Promoter Score: -12. The lowest in the industry. 

Here's what happens when private equity buys a founder-led business.

Ron Shaich built Panera from a small St. Louis chain into 2,000+ stores and $2.8 billion in revenue. The guy was a genius. He saw suburbanization coming. He invented the fast-casual category before Chipotle made it cool.

And he thought in decades, not quarters.

Free WiFi in 2004. Online ordering before anyone else. Loyalty programs. Kiosks. Whatever innovation would give them an edge, Ron did it first. 

From the '90s until 2016, Panera raised same-store sales every single year. Even during the 2008 recession, they didn't have to resort to discounting.

Then in 2017, Ron sold to JAB Holdings (a Luxembourg private equity firm) for $7.5 billion. Shortly after, he stepped down as CEO.

That's when the incentives changed.

Here's the thing about founder-owned businesses: the CEO has their net worth tied up in the company. It's their life's work. They make decisions thinking about the next 20 years.

Private equity thinks about their exit in 5-7 years. The hired gun CEOs they bring in? They're thinking about their next job in 3-4 years.

Same company. Totally different incentives.

So what did JAB do?

They merged Panera with Au Bon Pain (the urban chain Ron had ditched decades earlier). They added Caribou Coffee. Suddenly this laser-focused bread company became a conglomerate.

They cut staff. Shrunk portions. Started sending half-baked bread to stores instead of baking from scratch. At a company called Panera BREAD.

Ron had kept half the stores corporate-owned to stay close to customers and innovation. JAB pushed hard into franchising to get capital faster. One Houston franchisee with 15+ stores just collapsed, owing $50 million.

Look at the image I attached. Ron himself said it best: "No employee has ever woken up and said, 'You know what I want to do? Create an extra penny of value for shareholders.'"

That's what happens when you shift from customer-first to profit-first.

Today? Customers notice. Stale bread. Dirty stores. Bad service. That -12 NPS means people are actively telling their friends to avoid Panera.

Meanwhile, Ron is now chairman of Cava. And they're eating Panera's lunch.

Charlie Munger said: "Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome."

Ron was incentivized to build something that would last decades. Private equity was incentivized to get paid in 3-5 years.

The results speak for themselves.

What's your take?

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses.

Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

Hire With Near

The rise and fall of Bird Scooters: From $2B to Bankruptcy

In 2018, Bird Scooters became the fastest startup in history to reach a $1 billion valuation. Backed by top venture capital firms and expanding into hundreds of cities, Bird looked unstoppable. Just a few years later, the company filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets for a fraction of its peak value.

This video breaks down the rise and fall of Bird Scooters, explaining how micromobility hype, venture capital pressure, and broken unit economics quietly doomed the business. From scooters lasting just weeks, to cities banning deployments, to a disastrous SPAC IPO, Bird tried to outrun the math — and failed.

Using real numbers, injury data, and on-the-ground stories, this is a case study on why growth-at-all-costs doesn’t work, and how one startup burned over $1 billion without ever turning a profit.

Follow for more deep dives into startup failures, investing lessons, and business breakdowns every week.

Every so often, you run into a family where everyone does nothing all day but lives a big spending life.

"How did that happen?"

"Them? Their grandfather invented the seatbelt/disposable cup/toothpick/etc."

"Oh."

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

The rise and fall of Kodak: $30B to bankruptcy

At its peak, Eastman Kodak wasn’t just a camera brand—it was one of the most powerful corporations in America. They dominated film with massive profit margins, employed nearly 200,000 people, and even invented the world’s first digital camera. So how did a company that created the future of photography still end up bankrupt?

This video breaks down the true rise and fall of Kodak, from George Eastman’s revolutionary vision to the internal incentives, corporate structure, and fear of disruption that sealed Kodak’s fate. We also compare Kodak’s failure with Fujifilm, a rival that faced the same disruption—but survived by making brutal, long-term decisions.

If you want to understand business failure, the innovator’s dilemma, and why great companies collapse even when they see the threat coming, this is one of the most important case studies ever.

Follow for more breakdowns on business, investing, and long-term strategy.

I think everyone’s first business should be a digital agency. Unlimited demand, low risk, huge tailwinds, low capital to start.

The only problem is they don’t scale.

Thoughts?

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses.

Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

You can make a lot of money riding the pendulum shifts in society.

Right now, people are hungry for IRL experiences and flocking to them over an online world filled with anger and slop.

Thoughts?

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I run an annual conference for business owners in Sundance, Utah. It’s all owners, operators, and investors sharing real deal structures, holdco economics, and what's working now.

Join us in February!

Click the link in my bio to check it out.

Many fortunes were made by buying potential customers nice dinners and lunches.

Thoughts?

—

I run an annual conference for business owners in Sundance, Utah. It’s all owners, operators, and investors sharing real deal structures, holdco economics, and what's working now.

Join us in February!

Click the link in my bio to check it out.

I'll be impressed when you vibe code some paying customers.

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses.

Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

The Rise and Fall of MySpace: The collapse of a $12B giant

In 2006, MySpace was the most visited website in America—bigger than Google, bigger than Yahoo, and valued at over $12 billion. Just a few years later, it was sold for $35 million and quietly faded into an internet punchline. So what actually happened?

This video breaks down the full rise and fall of MySpace—from its explosive growth, dominance in music and culture, and a bidding war with legacy media giants, to the critical decisions that slowly killed the platform. We’ll cover the News Corp acquisition, the infamous Facebook missed deal, the Google ad contract that ruined user experience, and how technical debt and short-term thinking sealed MySpace’s fate.

MySpace isn’t just a nostalgia story—it’s a case study in business strategy, tech innovation, and how even the biggest platforms can collapse if they stop building for the future.

Follow for more deep dives into tech, business failures, and investing lessons every week.

I'm wearing an 8-year-old pair of Lululemon shorts right now.

They're still perfect. Haven't bought a new pair since.

That's actually one of the things that's killing Lululemon.

Here's the full story of how one of the most dominant brands in retail history started losing its edge — and the 4 lessons every business owner should steal from it:

1. Your founder's words are your brand. In 2013, Chip Wilson publicly suggested some women's bodies weren't right for Lululemon pants. During a see-through pants scandal. The $67M recall was recoverable. That comment wasn't. Women I know still won't shop there.

2. Chasing shiny objects is expensive. They spent $500M buying Mirror — a home fitness startup — betting people would keep working out at home post-COVID. When gyms reopened, nobody cared. They wrote off $443M. Almost the entire investment. Gone. They forgot their core business was making incredible clothing.

3. Even dominant brands go stale. Fashion shifted to loose, baggy fits. Lululemon's whole identity was tight athleisure. Younger, hipper brands like Alo and Vuori moved faster. By 2024, Lululemon publicly admitted a "lack of newness" was hurting sales.

4. A product too good can kill repeat purchases. When you've made clothes so durable people don't need new ones — and you've saturated your market — same-store sales fall. That's not a quality problem. That's a retention strategy problem.

The stock is down 50% in the past year. The market has voted.

Do you think they turn it around?

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

Lululemon 4 Costly Mistakes

I think about this chart often.

What's your take on this?

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By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: (link in bio)

 https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

—

Most of my entrepreneur friends have so much less liquid net worth than people imagine. 

They're rich, yeah, but it's all tied up in assets.

—

By the way: I employ 70+ Latin Americans across my different businesses. Whole accounting and marketing teams, salespeople, plus the entire team at Hire With Near, my LatAm staffing company. 

It lets me afford more experienced candidates for the same budget. They also happen to be amazing employees and people. 

If you haven’t looked into LatAm yet, you can get a no-strings-attached consultation with my team, plus 5% off your first hire, right here: https://lnkd.in/gPM8Sz4S

The rise and fall of Juul: How the $38B company imploded

Juul was founded with a bold mission: help smokers quit cigarettes through harm reduction. 

What started as a Stanford design project quickly became one of the fastest-growing companies in history, capturing over 70% of the vaping market and reaching a $38 billion valuation. But behind the sleek design and explosive growth, something much darker was unfolding.

In this video, we break down the rise and fall of Juul, from its early innovation in nicotine delivery to the marketing decisions that hooked an entire generation of teenagers. As regulators, parents, and state governments caught on, Juul went from Silicon Valley darling to public enemy almost overnight—facing federal raids, massive lawsuits, and billions wiped off its valuation.

This is a story about incentives, ethics, and what happens when growth matters more than responsibility.

Follow for more deep dives into business failures, startup scandals, and the real lessons behind massive companies.

The rise and fall of MoviePass

At its peak, MoviePass had over 3 million subscribers paying just $9.95 a month to watch unlimited movies in theaters. On the surface, it looked like one of the greatest subscription deals ever created. Behind the scenes, it was a financial disaster waiting to happen.

In this video, we break down the exact math that doomed MoviePass from day one. From selection bias and negative unit economics to misleading investor claims and desperate last-ditch tactics, this is the full rise and fall of one of the most infamous startup collapses of the last decade. You’ll see how selling growth at any cost — without a sustainable business model — can destroy even the most popular product.

If you enjoy deep dives into failed companies, investing lessons, and real-world business breakdowns, this story is packed with hard data and brutal truths.

Follow for more investing, business, and money breakdowns every week.

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The Battle

Matt Matros

Michael Girdley

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taplio

The Battle

Matt Matros

Michael Girdley

Followers

Posts

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);}Michael Girdley's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreMichael Girdley's LinkedIn Performance