Matt Michalewicz
Entrepreneur | AI Expert | Author
Throughout his career, Matt has raised more than $60 million in venture capital, sold his own companies for tens of millions of dollars, served on the board of directors of several ASX-listed companies, and written many books, including Life in Half a Second, Winning Credibility, Puzzle-Based Learning, Adaptive Business Intelligence, and The Rise of Artificial Intelligence.
He is considered a modern leader, having personally led organisations through the crashes and uncertainty of the dot-com, GFC, and covid eras, as well as the rise of disruptive trends such as mass personalisation, on-demand, digitalisation, and the rise of AI. Matt is also known for attracting global names to the boards of his own companies—including the former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lech Walesa; former Bank of America Chairman and CEO, Hugh McColl Jr.; world-renowned fraud expert and subject of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster "Catch Me if You Can," Frank Abagnale; and former National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, Zbigniew Brzezinski. His achievements have been featured in numerous television shows and publications, including Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sky News, and Forbes, and he was also named the Pearcey Foundation “Entrepreneur of the Year”, Business Journal “40 under 40” list of accomplished business leaders, and Ernst and Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist.
Matt is currently the CEO of Complexica, a provider of Artificial Intelligence software that helps large organisations make better decisions in sales, marketing, & supply chain operations. Matt’s more notable achievements at Complexica include raising almost $35 million in venture capital, being named the 2018 Australian Innovator of the Year, and winning several global tenders against competitors that were more than 100 times larger. Complexica employs more than a hundred staff across four offices and has many well-known customers, such as Dulux, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Metcash, Asahi, Pernod Ricard, Woolworths, and Arnott’s among others.
Prior to Complexica, Matt was the co-founder and CEO of SolveIT Software, a company he grew from scratch to 180 employees and more than $20 million in revenue before selling the business to Schneider Electric in 2012. SolveIT Software provided Artificial Intelligence systems for the mining industry to optimise their planning and scheduling processes, and was named the 3rd fastest-growing company in Australia in 2012 with global customers such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Viterra, Glencore, and Xstrata.
From 1999 - 2003, Matt was the co-founder and CEO of NuTech Solutions in the USA, where he raised almost US$20 million in venture capital and grew the business to almost 200 employees in 6 international offices. NuTech Solutions provided Artificial Intelligence-based software to the banking, defence, and manufacturing sectors, with customers such as General Motors, Unilever, Beiersdorf, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Air Liquide, NSA, U.S. Department of Defense, and Ford Motor Company among others. NuTech Solutions was acquired by Netezza Corporation, which was subsequently acquired by IBM Global Services.
From 1994 – 1999, Matt was the founder and operator of Fitness Forever, a personal training business, and later, the co-founder of CFG Investments, a money management and financial planning company with more than $150 million under management.
Matt is also a Limited Partner in Blackbird Ventures, an Australian early-stage venture capital fund, and from 2005 - 2016 he held the position of Visiting Fellow at the University of Adelaide where he lectured on the subject of technology commercialisation for graduate students.
