Opportunity Unlocked

Director & General Manager at Snap Inc. Matt McGowan - Leaving Wall Street to Pursue SV Dream, Selling Startup for $60M, When to Make Career Sacrifices, Snapchat’s Secret Sauce, Social Media and Mental Health

June 23, 2020 Noah Ifergan
Opportunity Unlocked
Director & General Manager at Snap Inc. Matt McGowan - Leaving Wall Street to Pursue SV Dream, Selling Startup for $60M, When to Make Career Sacrifices, Snapchat’s Secret Sauce, Social Media and Mental Health
Show Notes

Matt McGowan has had a multifaceted career with many accomplishments as an entrepreneur and leader in the tech world. 

He started his career out of university working in financial services on Wall Street at Charles Schwab. He decided the traditional financial services industry was not for him and made the decision to leave the company and join a Silicon Valley startup, Headland Digital Media. 

The startup was eventually sold to Pearson, after which Matt did his MBA at University of Oxford and then moved into leadership roles in the startup world including becoming COO at PropertyRoom.com, an online auctioning platform, and and Managing Director at Incisive Media, a business media company. 

After his successes there, he jumped into the world of big tech becoming the head of ad strategy at Google, working in New York on the strategy and operations of their business. 

Matt then became president of Adestra, a marketing technology company, where he led the sale of the company to Upland Software in 2018 for $60M. 

Now, he is in his position as Director and General Manager for Snap Inc., where he is leading their growth in Canada. 

Discussion Highlights:  

  • (2:00) Story of his career, being open to opportunities, and having North Star.  
  • (8:01) Making the decision to sacrifice and getting excited by the unknown.  
  • (11:39) Weighing the risks when making big decisions.  
  • (17:08) Why is Snapchat so popular?  
  • (19:13) Snapchat's secret sauce - ephemerality and AR.  
  • (26:06) From the inside: Snapchat’s fight during COVID.  
  • (29:46) WFH from a WFH vet.  
  • (35:56) Responsibility of social media companies as we go deeper into the digital world.  
  • (38:03) Is social media good for the world?  
  • (41:39) “If you take what they give you, you deserve what you get.”  

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