HeyJaredThe First Play w/ Matt Stone
Every day starts with a first play—the decision that sets everything in motion. I help founder-CEOs build authority during transitions. This is mine, documented daily: business building, mindset shifts, strategic pivots, wins, losses, and lessons. mattstone.substack.com
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 32
- Latest publication
- Sep 17, 2026
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- Jul 9, 2026
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Start With the Story (opens the original)
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Closing the week from the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Matt reports on a morning that ran Russell Wilson, the Walmart US CEO, Tyra Banks, and Martha Stewart back to back to back. The through-line he couldn’t unsee: Russell Wilson opened with bravado and business wins, high energy and blinding diamonds, and only near the very end of his thirty-minute slot shifted to his family’s story, his father’s struggle, the sacrifices that got him his start. The energy in the room transformed in that mo
Be the Mast (opens the original)
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The workforce is coming loose from its moorings. A Fortune commentary from the American Staffing Association’s chief economist reports that temporary help was among the fastest-growing job categories in 2026, up every month, with roughly one in ten new jobs this year being temporary — and the deeper point is that as employment becomes less permanent, the old assumptions linking company, career, and identity come apart with it. Matt reads that and sees confirmation of something he’s been feeling
What Would Your Pop-Up Be? (opens the original)
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When Annabel and Emily Lui’s wholesale deals collapsed — right after they’d hired staff, leased production space, and bought equipment — the sisters behind British bakery Cutter & Squidge were down to about £15,000 and, with employees on the payroll, maybe a month of runway. They didn’t shut down. They poured what was left into a small physical pop-up, and that pop-up became the foundation of a fully bootstrapped business now doing nearly £8 million a year with around 50 employees and more than
The Attractive Nuisance (opens the original)
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YouTube is changing the rules — counting a view the instant playback starts (so everyone’s numbers jump) while quietly making real monetization much harder to reach and keep. Matt uses the shift as a way into a bigger warning. Those inflated view counts will make people feel good about clicks that might say more about a thumbnail than the content, while the money moves further out of reach unless you go all-in as a full-time creator. And that’s the trap: if your goal is to make money directly fr
Trophies and the Troll (opens the original)
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A new Boston Consulting Group study, reported by Fortune, found that only 40% of former CEOs of billion-dollar companies felt satisfied with their transition out of the role in the first year — and the biggest struggle wasn’t money or boredom. It was identity and relevance. Who am I when the title’s gone? Matt’s quick to say no one’s shedding tears for retiring CEOs, but he’s talking about it because he keeps meeting a version of this person who isn’t a retiree at all: the accomplished, seasoned
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