Mr. McIlwain is a graduate of Dartmouth College, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Before joining Madrona in 2000, Matt was vice president of business process for the Genuine Parts Company, a Fortune 250 company. He also was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, concentrating on strategy and marketing and prior to that worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse.
However, Mr. McIlwain's entrpreneurial story truly begins with a board game. While attending Dartmouth, he had the idea to create the "Dartmouth Graduate Game" and he raised $10,000 from local businesses who paid to have their company names on the board. Mr. McIlwain presented the board game to several consulting firms and investment banks in New York, ultimately selling a couple thousand copies.
In the 1990's, when Mr. McIlwain worked as a VP for Genuine Parts Company, his responsibility mainly entailed being the "young guy making sure the internet didn't disrupt the company." While he was there, he received emails from a man named Jeff Bezos who wanted him to invest in his start-up business. Mr.Bezos had the idea to create a website that could sell books online (today known as Amazon). Madrona Venture Group raised some funds for Mr. Bezos and then invited Mr. McIlwain to join their team. He did, and has since been a part of approving and funding many other successful ventures. From his experience with Madrona, Mr. McIlwain emphasized that capital is abundant and will always find a way to reach deserving companies. His first priority is to build great companies, followed by generating outstanding returns.
Mr. McIlwain mentioned four main things that are very important to him: faith, innovation, soccer, and public policy. Faith has been a strong part of his life ever since he was a student at Dartmouth. It was there that he started a non-denominational bible study on campus which provided him with a solid community where he could grow his faith. It has always been important to him to have "the courage of my convictions in the depth of my relationships." Many aspects of his Christian faith have impacted his convictions and he highly values having faith integrated into his life. It is important to Mr. McIlwain to know how, when, where, and in what style one is to do something. Many of his relationships have started with the Lord and continued on to his family and friends.
In closing, Mr. McIlwain mentioned some points on how to become a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs should be customer driven, talent-oriented, determined, and humble. Humility has been by far the most valued trait for his successful business career, and in the words of Mr. McIlwain, "Once you think you're smarter (than everyone else), you stop growing."
Thank you to Mr. McIlwain for his outstanding presentation on successful entrepreneurship!
Student Contributor: Michael Lindahl
