Matt Bell did the one thing startup founders are definitely NOT supposed to do.

He built a solution without a problem to solve.

Matt is the founder of Matterport – a tech company that captures physical spaces and replicates them into interactive 3D replicas. Simply put, they help people capture virtual experiences of physical spaces, which can be used to create floorplans, building plans, facility plans, and more.

Founded in 2012, Matterport is now a company with tens of millions in revenue, with 650k+ subscribers. The platform hosts 8.7 million spaces across 177 countries, and they have clients like Netflix, Redfin, Waldorf Astoria, AWS, and Choice Hotels.

And if you haven’t guessed yet, Matt is speaking at Camp Hustle in May.

A Cool Tech Product

If there’s one rule pretty much everyone in tech agrees with, it’s this: find a problem, then build a solution to solve it.

Do not – look at me – do NOT build a solution then look for a problem to apply it to. But this is how Matterport started. And given that the company is (in technical terms) killing it, I think we can agree that it’s worked out for them.

It all started because Matt was really into computer vision technology. He knew the concept of bridging physical and digital worlds through 3D content was a good one… he just didn’t know quite how he was gonna do it.

Luckily Matt grew up in Silicon Valley. So the concept of being an entrepreneur and figuring it out didn’t terrify him as it does some. After starting, growing, and eventually sunsetting his first startup, Matt built the software that would eventually become Matterport. And then he built the hardware. Guy’s a genius, what can I say?

The thing is, even a genius engineer with $1.6m raised from friends and family needs an actual market to sell to. So Matt took 18 months to figure out the best use case for Matterport.

He explored:

• scanning bodies for virtual clothing shopping
• industrial equipment installation
• construction
• insurance
• real estate

And at the end of the 18 months, Matt found that real estate had the most traction. So he went all-in.

Matterport is now the leader in 3D floorplans for commercial real estate, residential real estate, short-term rentals, the hotel industry, manufacturing facilities, you name it. For a product that didn’t have a problem to solve, Matterport is now solving an awful lot of problems. The platform helps real estate agents win more listings, helps apartment buildings fill more units, and helps venues close more bookings. Heck, it even helps fast-track building projects — a true miracle.

Just keep building

Matt left Matterport once the company was on a clear track to success.

If you’re asking “why did he leave a company that was so obviously going to have a huge exit?”… sorry I can’t hear you because I’m too busy asking the same question. Well I was, until I realized something about Matt.

He’s a builder. He’s not content to sit at the top of Salesforce Tower with his Allbirds-clad feet on his desk as he doomscrolls TikTok.

No no – Matt needs to build. So once Matterport no longer needed him, Matt started looking for his next project.

And he found it. Matt is now over at Anthropic, an AI research lab that’s raised close to $1b. It’s the second largest large language model company in the world. And Matt came on board to help take the company from being a research-focused company to actually building and shipping products.

Here’s the thing

As investors, we’re all always looking for founders that have more than a great idea. We're looking for founders who know how to take that idea and turn it into an actual business.

Matt is that person. He does the hard work of validating ideas, iterating to find PMF, and getting customers.

And at Camp Hustle, he’s going to share his strategies on taking a startup from 0-100.

His talk won’t be recorded, so grab your ticket to hear him live. And use code MATTERPORT to get a discount (good through March 31).

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