The key ingredient in high-performing teams How great leaders set a direction people actually believe in Matt Hunter • June 23, 2026 The stories we tell are some of the most important elements of success in business. If you have a bold mission, you must be able to share it compellingly to scale your business. That’s where good storytelling comes in. As Don Valentine, venture capitalist and founder of Sequoia, explains, “The art of storytelling is incredibly important. And many—maybe even most...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The recruiting pitch that lured engineers away from Google The one thing most leadership teams skip Matt Hunter • June 2, 2026 Great leaders serve up an intoxicating blend of bold vision, audacious goals, real resources, and—if you join them—the chance to make history. They tell stories about what the world could become and then live those stories as if they’ve already come true. That’s what gives them permission to demand excellence and attract top talent. Great companies, powerful social...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
How Tinder built a dating empire with guerrilla tactics Hint: You need one small, winnable sandbox. Matt Hunter • May 19, 2026 Guerrilla tactics are bold, scrappy, low-cost strategies used to launch a new product or jump-start traction for an existing one. You show up where your users are and do remarkable things to achieve outsized visibility fast. The goal is to make enough noise in one small corner that momentum begins to snowball. These tactics tend to work well when you narrow the...
2 months ago • 5 min read
The practical playbook for building the next generation of great companies is coming Tough Enough is landing on bookshelves at the end of September Matt Hunter • May 6, 2026 I just finished co-writing a new book, Tough Enough: How to Lead a Team to Greatness Without Being a Jerk, which Hachette will publish in September 2026. As an exited founder turned executive coach, I’ve partnered with John Baird, one of Silicon Valley’s most respected executive coaches (Apple, Nike, DoorDash,...
3 months ago • 3 min read
How ChatGPT hit 1M users in 5 days The deadline trick that makes teams elite Matt Hunter • April 21, 2026 A launch serves as the defining moment of a company’s work. There’s a date on the calendar, a promise to stakeholders, and everyone must come together to make it succeed on time. A launch represents a public commitment. The world is watching, and you’ll be on stage, presenting real work or otherwise falling flat. This creates positive drama and tension, along with a supercharged layer of...
3 months ago • 3 min read
The warfare tactic your team is missing… How a common enemy sharpens everything. Matt Hunter • April 7, 2026 Every business benefits from a little healthy competition. A common enemy is a warfare tactic that sharpens priorities and heightens intensity around an important goal. When this approach is in balance, it looks like healthy competition. You’re doing this to channel the team’s competitive spirit because defeating the opponent would materially improve your position. Choose a larger...
4 months ago • 4 min read
The Hidden Power of Secrecy Why many of the world’s best builders keep their most important work in the dark. Matt Hunter • March 24, 2026 Michele Ferrero, the mastermind behind Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac, and Ferrero Rocher, spent roughly sixty years inventing products for an imagined customer he called “Vale- ria.” David Senra, on his Founders podcast, recounts how Ferrero owned 100 percent of the company, lived in tasting labs, and iterated tens of thousands of times to perfect flavor,...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Assemble War Rooms: How Jensen Huang and Lisa Su Rally Small Teams to Solve Existential Threats Fast Eight ingredients for mobilizing when the stakes are existential. Matt Hunter • March 3, 2026 If you’re leading a company right now, you probably have at least one issue that’s quietly compounding damage. A stalled launch.A reliability incident.A sales dip no one can quite explain.A competitor moving faster than you expected. Most teams handle these problems inside normal operating...
5 months ago • 7 min read
How to Give Robust Feedback A System for Delivering Truth Without Losing Trust Matt Hunter • February 17, 2026 One of the questions I get most often from founders and executives is: How do I give hard feedback without damaging the relationship? Below is the framework my co-author John Baird and I teach to founders, CEOs, and leadership teams. Deploying feedback is among the most energy-intensive acts of leadership, requiring you to hold truth and care in the same hand. Many leaders either...
5 months ago • 4 min read