Matt is the co-founder and CTO of Fynbos. He works alongside his incredible team, building Fynbos in Cape Town.
Fynbos is a technology company building a digital wallet which is open-loop, and fully programmable through APIs. Fynbos aims to provide an open alternative to the likes of Google Pay and Apple Pay by building the better way to pay using payment pointers, memorable URLs that link to your wallet and allow you to pay or get paid anywhere. Think $CashTags or Paypal.me links, but that will enable you to pay anyone or get paid by anyone.
Matt studied Mechanical Engineering at UCT before going on to co-found a startup that provides live GPS tracking for athletes in extreme events (mountain running and motocross), and a failed attempt to create an athlete-focused social network. Think LinkedIn meets Strava. He met his co-founders whilst working at Coil where they are building a better business model for the web.
Matt leads technology and product at Fynbos.
As CTO I define our product roadmap and technology choices. I must align the whole team on solving customer problems first and foremost, creating great user experiences, and leveraging technology as a force multiplier.
You have your late-night talk show; who do you invite as your first guest?
Frank Slootman from Snowflake. He is arguably the greatest CEO in the world right now. Proving time and time again that incredible businesses are not just built but require a laser-focused person at the helm. He is most famous for getting companies to narrow their focus and increasing the quality of their products.
What is your favourite item you’ve bought this year?
My first surfboard. Learning to surf, has pushed me out of my comfort zone for the first time in a long time. It feels great to be an absolute beginner and struggle to become proficient.
If you had to delete all but three apps from your smartphone, which ones would you keep?
Slack, 1Password and Feedly.
Slack, so that I can connect with the team and be available at all times to our company. 1Password because it should be a human right for everyone to own a password manager. Finally, I consume too many tech and business blogs, and Feedly helps me keep tabs on them.
Now you know Matt! He and the team are building building building and our product is nearly ready for general release. Get on the waitlist and be one of the first to check it out.