Matt Higgins - CEO & Co-Founder of RSE Ventures | Burn The Boats

As the CEO and Co-founder of RSE Ventures, a private investment firm focused on sports, media, and entertainment, Matt Higgins has always believed in the importance of trusting one's instincts and not outsourcing one's judgment. Growing up in Queens, Matt worked to support their family by selling flowers on street corners and working at McDonald's. To transcend poverty as quickly as possible, Matt dropped out of high school at 16 to work full-time and enroll in college early.Over the next decade, Matt earned a law degree from Fordham at night and began a career as the youngest press secretary in NYC history, where he helped manage the global press response to 9/11. He went on to become an executive for two NFL teams, found/invest in some of the most dynamic brands through RSE Ventures, and become a guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank (seasons 10-11) as well as an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where he co-teaches "Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer."Matt Higgins is always on the lookout to meet great founders and the people who invest in them.

➡️ Talking Points

00:00 — Introduction

01:08 — Matt's origin story

07:23 — Enabling a sense of responsibility

10:15 — Burning the boat

15:23 — Framework for evaluating investments

22:05 — Backing the jockey, not the horse

22:50 — Why Shark Tank chose Matt Higgins

26:55 — What Matt looks for before investing

31:30 — Evaluating coachability and mission orientation

33:12 — Matt's first investment

38:34 — Advice for people that are playing small

42:38 — Optimizing anxiety

44:39 — Going all in and failing

47:22 — Where can people connect with Matt Higgins?

48:09 — What does success mean to Matt Higgins?