Matt Williams (born August 21, 1972 in
Dallas, Texas) is an American Internet entrepreneur and the
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Pro.com. Previous positions include CEO of
Digg.com, executive roles at
Amazon, and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at venture capital firm
Andreessen Horowitz.
Early life and education
Williams was born in
Dallas, Texas, and grew up in the
Pacific Northwest, attending
Shorecrest High School near
Seattle, Washington. His parents were both entrepreneurs: his father starting radio stations, including
KUBE 93.3 in Seattle and his mother starting Lake Forest Park Montessori in North Seattle. Williams graduated from the Eller College of Management at the
University of Arizona.
Career
LiveBid.com
In 1996 Williams and high-school friend Sky Kruse cofounded Seattle-based LiveBid.com, a proprietary software site that partnered with traditional auction houses to stream their events online, allowing Internet bidders to participate in bidding.
The firm was acquired by Amazon in 1999.
Amazon
Williams remained at Amazon until 2010, he occupied several executive roles, including General Manager of Payments, He was responsible for early iterations of various web products, including Amazon's Selling on Amazon and WebStore by Amazon.
In 2001, Williams initiated a partnership between Amazon and the Annual Today Show Holiday Drive, a project of the Today Show Charitable Foundation, Inc. The partnership allowed Amazon customers to select and purchase a wish list of toy products for needy children from the site.
Digg.com
In September 2010, Williams became CEO of social news aggregator
Digg.com
Digg, stylized in lowercase as digg, is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select stories specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral Internet issues. It was launch ...
. He inherited a number of challenges: the technically marred release of site redesign
Digg v4 had resulted in a decline in customer usage and an alienation of the site's core audience; at the same time, changes in the internet milieu - most particularly
Google's search algorithm - had made Digg's news aggregation model less relevant. After the departure of former CEO
Jay Adelson
Jay Adelson (born Jay Steven Adelson, September 7, 1970) is an American Internet entrepreneur. In 2014 Adelson co-founded Center Electric with Andy Smith. In 2013 he founded Opsmatic, a technology company that improves productivity on operations ...
, founder
Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's ''The Screen Savers''. From 2012 to 2015, he was a venture partner at GV.
Earl ...
had run the company, making Williams the company's third CEO within a span of months.
During Williams' tenure, the firm's metrics began to rebound. Site engagement increased significantly: Diggs and time on site by 20%, the total number of comments submitted per day by 50%.
Despite this, the company's burn rate remained high, resulting in layoffs of 40% of staff and cuts in operational costs in order to approach cash flow positive in 2011.
In July 2012, Williams completed the sale of Digg in three parts: some staff members were transferred to ''
The Washington Posts SocialCode project for $12 million, a suite of patents were sold to
LinkedIn for $4 million, and the Digg brand and website was sold to
Betaworks
Betaworks is an American startup studio and seed stage venture capital company based in New York City that invests in network-focused, consumer-facing media businesses.
Its hybrid investor/builder model has led to both investments in fast-growi ...
for stock plus at least $500,000 cash.
Pro.com
In mid-2013, Williams became CEO of the Internet startup Pro.com, a home services marketplace where users receive instant price estimates from home professionals and schedule appointments online.
Other activities
In 2012 Williams became
Entrepreneur in Residence
An Entrepreneur in residence, or Executive in residence (EIR), is a position most often held by successful entrepreneurs in venture capital firms, private equity firms, startup accelerators, law firms or business schools. The EIR typically lead ...
at the venture capital firm
Andreessen Horowitz.
Williams is a Member of the Board of Directors for SmartThings.
References
External links
Pro.com website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Matt
1972 births
Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
American technology chief executives
Amazon (company) people
University of Arizona alumni