Hi, I’m Matt Russo
Everyone has a left and right brain; I’m one of the oddballs that actually uses both on a daily basis.
Before founding SoloHoldCo and a handful of other companies, I served as CMO, COO, and Entrepreneur in Residence for an advertising technology company based in Los Angeles.
Over 8 years, I led teams, helped design new products, and built go-to-market plans that helped land us on the Inc 5000 seven years in a row.
Growing a team from 25 to nearly 300 was a blast, but my passion lies in helping zero-to-one founders bring their ideas to life. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll share what I know about mindset, prioritization, and doing what needs to be done to ensure you see the result you want.
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Who Is Matt?
Diverse Interests Make for Unique Perspectives
During my time at the University of Cincinnati, I had the opportunity to meet Tim Brown, chairman and president of IDEO. He introduced me to the idea of “T-shaped people” and why it’s not necessarily a bad thing to be a jack-of-all-trades.
Entrepreneur
Launching and growing companies that add value to others’ lives is my drug of choice. I’ve done it by myself, with partners, and alongside large teams across a variety of industries… and it is something I see myself doing for the next 40 years.
Operator
Growing a business is thrilling, but making it hum is pure bliss. My background in Industrial Design helps me see the world through beautifully constructed inputs and outputs. My favorite saying: “systems support processes support people.”
Marketer
I started sending hand-written letters to propsects and building websites in HTML. Over the years, I’ve expanded my skills and served as CMO of a 7x Inc 5000-award winning startup. The platforms and tactics may shift, but principles are timeless.
Husband & Father
The only thing more rewarding than helping a business grow is watching your own children blossom into thoughtful, self-sufficient, productive human beings. I’m a proud #girldad to two beautiful daughters.
Guitarist
Cello lessons paved the way for becoming a self-taught guitarist at age 13, and I’ve been playing since. Once opened for Creed. You’ll see my Strat on the wall behind me during our Zoom check-ins.
Runner
I played volleyball in high school and didn’t pick up running until much later in life. Today, with three full marathons under my belt, I feel confident enough to call myself a “runner” who is committed for life.
My Journey
How it all started…
2000
College
I attended the University of Cincinnati for a degree in Industrial Design. As part of my studies, I traveled around the world for internships with two design agencies (Columbus & Boston), Target Corp. (Minneapolis), and a toy company (San Francisco) – and backpacked through 13 European countries in 10 weeks by the time I graduated. (I also learned I didn’t want to be an industrial designer for the rest of my life.)
2008
Entrepreneurial Beginnings
Like many my age, I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and jumped into real estate investing. During the 2008 financial crisis, I cut my teeth on direct response marketing and helped homeowners avoid foreclosure, negotiated with banks, rehabbed properties, and managed tenants.
2009
Getting Digital
Around the same time, I started applying my design skills to a new format: digital. I started building plain HTML sites and eventually graduated to WordPress. Skills continued to stack as social media took the world by storm, and I eventually launched my own agency to help companies establish their online presence and helped grow another.
2010
Private Sale Startup
I finally had a chance to flex my digital marketing skills when I joined a flash sale startup in Columbus. Each day, we sold high-end home improvement products like sinks, faucets, toilets, and rugs at deep discounts. The concept was a hit: we grew from zero to 25,000+ members nationwide and sold the customer list & ecommerce tech to a product liquidator in upstate New York a year later.
2011
Back as Founder
Post-acquisition, I found myself building again – this time at the intersection of social listening and lead generation for various industries. Both ChatterJet and Social Auto Leads proved human interaction with prospects on social platforms could drive business.
2014
Ad Tech Exec
Late in 2014, I was approached by the founder of the private sale site (see above) to run marketing for his new startup based in Los Angeles. I told him I’d accept on the condition that I wasn’t moving West. Nine months later, my family and I packed up our things when I accepted the COO role. I spent nearly five years in LA and another three here in Columbus helping to grow Infillion into a 275+ person company.
2023
Time to Build
After lots of consideration and countless discussions, I decided it was time to build something of my own again. I am currently taking a portfolio approach to entrepreneurship, building a collection of companies across a variety of industries.Â
Matt is one of those people whom, when you meet, you instantly know you have to work with. He has an incredible eye for design, is a creative marketer, possesses a technical skill set, and is business-savvy. Working with Matt is so fulfilling because one moment you’ll be collaborating on an exciting idea, and the next, you realize he has executed it with perfect fidelity.
Matt is an innovator in every sense of the word. He has a brilliant mind and brings a sense of curiosity to everything he touches. His skillsets run tremendously deep, I’d check every single one off if I could… He also has an innate ability to understand the big picture while knowing how all the pieces of the puzzle fit; an organizational and market-driven wizard.Â
Matt has as insane combination of creative talent, systems and process orientation, and grit that makes him truly a 10xer.
He is self motivated, detail oriented, thoughtful, earnest, and a just very good person. Anyone who has the chance to work with Matt would never regret it, and more likely become a raving fan like anyone else who knows him.
He has a knack for doing excellent work and making those around him do better. If you ever get a chance got work with Matt, you are very lucky.
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Matthew Russo
Founder of SoloHoldCo | Helping companies grow while building a few of my own | Former CMO/COO of 7x Inc 5000 startup