Matthew May — Co-Founder

If you ask Matthew E. May (“Matt”) what he gets paid to do, his short answer would be something like: “I help leaders achieve maximum effect through minimum means.” Which is how he defines his signature philosophy: elegance. Matt is a strategist, author, and advisor whose work explores a deceptively simple question: why do the best solutions to complex problems so often turn out to be elegant ones? For over three decades, he has worked with CEOs, founders, and leadership teams to help organizations design strategies that are not just ambitious, but clear, focused, and scalable. His approach draws on lessons from lean thinking, innovation, and design to help leaders simplify complexity, accelerate decision-making, and unlock sustainable growth. Across his work runs a consistent theme: great organizations succeed not by adding more complexity, but by designing elegant strategies and systems where less does more. Matt is the founding partner of Stratechia, a Los Angeles-based strategy and innovation advisory firm that helps companies craft innovative strategies and build the organizational capabilities needed to execute them. Over the course of his career he has advised organizations ranging from high-growth startups to global enterprises, including eight years as a senior advisor to Toyota, where he helped develop leadership programs and innovation capabilities inside the company’s renowned production system. Most recently, he spent five years as a senior operating advisor to the 500+ B2B SaaS companies in the portfolio of Insight Partners, a global private equity firm investing in high-growth technology ScaleUps driving transformative change in their industries. Matt is the author of six books on strategy, innovation, and lean thinking, including What a Unicorn Knows, Winning the Brain Game, The Laws of Subtraction, and The Elegant Solution. His ideas have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Fast Company, Inc., Strategy+Business, Rotman Magazine, and the Harvard Business Review blog network. He is also a sought-after keynote speaker who helps leaders rethink how innovation, strategy, and simplicity intersect. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Johns Hopkins University. Among his more creative achievements, he also won the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, which he considers excellent training for the art of elegant thinking.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a strategic advisor specializing in innovation and operational efficiency within the B2B SaaS industry.

Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

Experience: 28 yrs 2 mos