Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Growney.
Matthew, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was adopted at birth by two amazing people just outside of Chicago. Born and raised in the ’70s under the typical Chicago & Midwest family culture of the church, steak, American cars, and a bland sense of style. My father was a hardworking mechanical engineer that put himself through night school to eventually obtain an MBA. My mother was involved in counseling young women on teen pregnancy, helping out at school as an English tutor, and many other community causes.
When I turned ten years old, they afforded me the opportunity to go to Paris as an exchange student. It became a pivotal point in my life where I discovered just how big the world was and how incredibly important it was to go see it and meet the different people in it.
Upon my return from Paris, I went on to live and study in places like Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Tokyo, Japan, Bemidji, Minnesota; and back to Paris during law school. I learned about people and communities. I also loved the visual aspects of these different cultures- what people wore, what they carried, what they bought, and what they sold.
Upon graduating from law school in Boston in 2000, I had started a small investment program while working at Motorola as a business analyst in the Corporate Strategy department. The basic concept of the program was to allow Motorola to make small investments in young entrepreneurs. I wanted to infuse external creativity, expertise, knowledge, hustle, culture into a legacy Fortune 50 midwest company, like Motorola. Within the first year, we had made successful investments that not only furthered the innovation goals of Motorola but also financial goals. For the next nine years, I managed over 70+ investments in a $450M portfolio. Many of those investments are present today through broadcast television, mobile phones, software applications, and public safety services.
Around 2006, I wanted to leave the friendly confines of Motorola and become an actual entrepreneur. With that renewed energy, I created and launched a mobile device company in 2007 that eventually designed devices and content for children and the elementary education space. We sold devices into AT&T as well as into 1200+ school districts.
In 2013, my mother passed away from colon cancer and my father passed away shortly thereafter in 2016. It was during the passing of my father that I eventually stepped down from the company and decided to focus on organizing my parents’ legacy. Over the next few years, I supported various charitable organizations that were within my parents’ own concern- education, health, entrepreneurship.
Along the way (in 2016), I had been contacted by a friend at PUMA to help them explore new avenues of innovation. It was at this time that I started to provide feedback and opportunities for not only innovation, but also e-commerce, creative, artist access, retail design, and eventually product launch and activation.
Today, I am responsible for providing not only PUMA, but other brands with everything from product sketch to the actual delivery of new compelling products and services in the Fashion, Hospitality, Food & Beverage, and Health & Wellness markets. I have also designed brand activations for such events like Paris Fashion Week, NY Fashion Week, Art Basel, NBA Draft, and Start-up Pitchfests. Brands that I have worked with have included PUMA, GUCCI, Roc Nation, Motorola, RHUDE, Maison Kitsune, ODIN NYC, Pintrill, and JAHNKOY.
I also maintain a venture fund called, Fabulous Brands, with my partner, Eric Lepleux. The fund focuses on young modern luxury brands where our portfolio currently consists of True Botanicals, Nadaam Cashmere, FazeClan, Made In, Pet Plate, and Repurpose.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Of course, the road is never smooth. Losing my parents was a very tough loss. I am reminded every day that I have the responsibility of making sure that my own children never forget how important their grandparents were to our family and to our community. It was also tough to adjust to a new industry like the business of fashion. Having come from the communications and technology space, things moved at different paces. The knowledge base was different. So, there is always going to a learning curve that you need to keep apprised of no matter how long you have been in the industry. The faster you can learn and utilize that knowledge, the more successful you will be in growing your business.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Rudyard Partners – what should we know?
Outside of the investment work that I do with Fabulous Brands, my role with brands like PUMA is to serve as a Creative Director of many sorts. I am usually asked about a specific new product concept or customer experience that we need to improve or facilitate the lunch thereof. From there, I create various concepts for the product, potential outside designers to work with, ways to innovate the product with new materials, colors, finishes, embellishments. I also look at ways to create new physical customer experiences like shopping or customization of products during a retail experience.
Once the creative concept has been established, I then go into management mode and source the best artists, designers, partners to bring the concept to life. Timelines can be as short as 30-day projects to year-long projects.
One of the things that I really like about this model is the freedom and creativity that I have to select local artists and partners. It allows me to build my own relationships in different parts of the world and also allows me to be very competitive by hiring ‘local’. I had the tremendous pleasure of hiring SWARM in Wynwood to help produce PUMA and Roc Nation’s 2018 Art Basel program that I had designed. I also found ways to activate local Miami brands like Mr. Kream and Logan Real.
I’m proud of being able to spend more time learning about local brands and resources available to me before I install a large project or facilitate an important new product launch.
I think what sets me apart is that I’m a business person first. I look at how well can the creative be executed both to the customers’ delight, but also cost-effectively. A lot of people get caught up in the importance of the design of something when in reality people will remember how creative something was for but a minute and instead will predominantly remember how expensive or inexpensive the product or experience was.
How do you define success?
Happiness. At this point in my life, success isn’t measured by my personal income. I’m good there. Instead, I want to be proud of the work that I’m doing. I want to be involved in bringing new concepts to market like what I am doing with JAHNKOY this fall. I also love when my children see my work and think it’s cool. They are the only ‘influencers’ that I consider in my work. And finally, I think success is reached if you are kept busy. I love being busy. I can rest when I’m dead.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rudyardpartners.com
- Phone: 6173350069
- Email: matthew.growney@rudyardpartners.com
- Instagram: @iamgrowney
- Twitter: @iamgrowney
- Other: www.fabulousbrands.com
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