Matt Brown: A Necessity for Innovation and Digital Kung Fu to Transform an Industry
Digital Kungfu’s CEO, Matt Brown, has been fascinated with gadgets for as long as he can remember. He was a child of the 1980s and 1990s, and he saw the transition from arcade games to Nintendos, from fax machines to email and home computers, and the arrival of the first Nokias and Motorolas in South Africa. In a nutshell, he was a pioneer of the first generation to routinely use technological advancements.
As Matt began his first work at a management consultant that specialized in technology outsourcing, his interest only grew. It was the late ’90s, he recalls, and he was already seeing the transformative power of technology in the workplace. If used properly, technology has the ability to boost profits while decreasing danger and cutting costs. In other words, it completely changes the rules of the game.
Matt founded Digital Kungfu with the conviction that his companies must serve as a leader in their field if they are to have a meaningful influence on the world.
I’ve always known that cutting-edge tech is the answer to addressing major issues in the corporate world. To maximize their influence, it is our job to facilitate their expansion into other markets.
This is Just the Start of Something Huge
Black Swan Technology Group is a holding company that operates in the fields of demand generation, pipeline acceleration, and platform technology; Digital Kungfu is one of its subsidiaries. Black Swan Technology Group also operates under the names TechDealNetwork, Pipeline Generator, and FireSaleHardware.
When it first opened its doors, Digital Kungfu was a content creation firm serving a wide range of business sectors. As time went on, Matt and the other executives at the company recognized that computer firms made up the bulk of their clients. It was simply a hunch at first, but as we solicited input from our clients, we learned that our sweet spot was in the computer industry. We were familiar with their wares, their clients’ problems, their difficulties in generating leads, and their industries.
Matt and his crew made a huge gamble in light of these findings. They narrowed their emphasis to cater just to IT companies rather than casting a wider net. They have flourished from their early days, counting among their customers such industry heavyweights as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and many more.
Today, Matt and his team have unprecedented insight into the value chain difficulties that hardware and software organizations confront because they have remained niche, specialized in the technology sector, and worked with many of the world’s top technology manufacturers, distributors, and partners.
Because of the pressing demand for sales-qualified pipelines, we released Digital Kungfu as our first product. Technology firms cannot sustain the businesses they service without a steady stream of new business deals. When we introduce a new brand, it’s because we’ve identified a need in the market, and our solutions are built on our own unique technology,” explains Matt.
Before finding his calling as the founder of Black Swan Technology Group, which aims to reengineer economic possibilities for small, medium, and large technology brands, Matt was a serial entrepreneur who founded 12 businesses in South Africa and London.
Some of them were profitable, and I sold them; others were not, but they taught me valuable lessons despite the pain they caused at the time. Every company also relied on technology in some way, but the introduction of Digital Kungfu has unified them all. What excites us most about Black Swan Technology Holdings is the new challenges it will allow us to tackle.
Since its beginning in 2019, Matt has done an incredible job of swiftly expanding Digital Kungfu. Digital Kungfu was named Africa’s Best Tech Startup in its first year of operation by Africa Tech Week. What makes this new company special? Over the course of a year, they were able to generate over £12 million in sales-ready leads for its clients. With the addition of additional businesses, Digital Kungfu’s workforce exploded from 10 members in its first year to fifty members two years later.
Matt knows exactly what he has to do to lead the organization to success. The leadership team’s 2024 Vivid Vision calls for Digital Kungfu to be worth $100 million by the end of that year. Matt adds, “If your vision isn’t bold and audacious, your team won’t be able to accomplish incredible feats.” To put it another way: “It must excite the people who work with you and those that are responsible for bringing that vision to reality.”
Matt recognizes that he performs better as a leader when there is a shared vision that energizes everyone from the company’s employees to the media to the company’s consumers.
The only KPI I have is making sure our Vivid Vision becomes a reality. Matt explains, “My team manages the day-to-day operations of all of our companies.”
The consortium of businesses is making progress toward realizing the goal, but doing so is no small feat and comes with significant accountability. We’re expanding swiftly, therefore it’s imperative that our team members do the same. Because of the need for so much help in keeping up with the company’s rapid expansion, I am totally dedicated to each and every one of Black Swan’s employees.
Matt began 2021 with a promise to his staff, similar to the resolutions many individuals make at the start of the year. “This year, we’re aiming to double each employee’s personal growth, because that’s what really fuels the company’s expansion.”
Quicker Defeat
Although it may seem paradoxical, Matt believes that the only way to create lasting change in a given market is to fail quicker.
All of us are doomed to disappointment. When you fail, you learn. You can’t improve upon a successful strategy without first identifying its flaws. Digital Kungfu has always had an edge over the competition because of our quicker rate of failure. To remain ahead, we fail, analyze the data, refine our product, and eventually succeed more quickly.
Furthermore, Matt explains that although the goods Black Swan Technology Holdings introduces to the market are easy to replicate, the company’s culture is very difficult, if not impossible, to replicate.
When you try to figure anything out when you don’t have all the information you need, you’re certain to make some mistakes since “you don’t know what you don’t know.” That’s OK; just get yourself up and try again.For us at Black Swan, it’s never been about the ten thousand attempts that failed. Regarding the only method that really works. We build in the possibility of failure into our systems. We recognize that there will be times when we make mistakes, but we are certain that if we keep trying despite setbacks, we will eventually succeed.
The company’s 220% growth through the Great Recession and the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic is proof that it is successfully meeting customer needs.
Our beliefs are at the center of everything we do, and we’ve spent the past three years building a solid leadership team around those ideals. The fact that the team knows exactly what they need to accomplish and how to execute it, as well as the fact that they are permitted to make mistakes so long as they try, gives me great satisfaction.
In 2020, Matt was even able to take a month off, during which he had very little to do with running the company. The magic of a month-long holiday, if you will. Matt claims that period was their second most profitable month ever. “We have a strong team because our values serve as a cornerstone.”
Having the correct management and workers, together with Matt’s direction, will help the business to remain ahead of the competition and keep everyone on track to reach their objectives.
Maintaining Your Drive
Matt has introduced and practiced a number of things to keep workers engaged on a daily basis, including creating a team that supports the company’s clear mission. When describing the group’s pre-work rituals, he adds, “We participate in appreciation rituals that encourage everyone to send a thank you or an expression of gratitude to each other.” We discovered that this helped maintain our company culture and teamwork even when everyone was spread all throughout the country.
The “Dream on Program” is another firm effort that helps workers realize their dreams by funding things like graduate school and overseas travel. The firm is also making significant inroads with educational institutions all around the globe. Through a program dubbed The Dreamers Dojo, “our goal is to allow students to take their ideas to market through equity deals and profit-sharing arrangements,” adds Matt. How much potentially transformative research is shelved due to financial constraints? Our goal is to alter that.
Into the Future
When thinking back on the state of the technology sector over the last five years, Matt has seen that the business climate has become more volatile and fast-paced.
Some people find rapid change unsettling, but we’ve always recognized that it brings exciting new possibilities. Alteration is something that fascinates us. The best organizations and groups in the world are flexible enough to take advantage of new opportunities.
A major focus of Matt’s podcast, The Matt Brown Show, is the question of whether one should adopt a “fixed” or “growth” attitude. “Those who are stuck in their ways can’t see beyond their own problems. They have a mindset of helplessness and are incapable of change. Developmental mindsets are distinctive. They take stock of their circumstances and ask, “What do I need to know, and how do I need to change and grow, to make the most of my constantly evolving environment?”
Black Swan Technology Holdings and its affiliates are capitalizing on market opportunities as many companies fail or struggle as a result of COVID-19. Realizing that the technological environment will perpetually change, but that with each new iteration comes new possibilities, one has no option but to seize these openings as they arise.
As a company entrepreneur, it thrills me that there are always untapped markets or underdeveloped niches. Our varied team is prepared to adapt quickly to changing business conditions, and we actively promote an entrepreneurial spirit throughout all of our firms.
The goal of the company is to be worth USD $100 million by 2024, and a big part of that plan involves expanding internationally. The company had rapid expansion in Africa and entered the UK market in the third quarter of 2020. The company plans to introduce its many brands to the American market in the second quarter of 2021.
Matt: “From there, we’re considering destinations in Asia, with Singapore as a possible next stop.” We refuse to be identified just with our headquarters. We have the makings of a worldwide phenomenon.
