Unicorn CEO Matthew Scullion is the latest guest on the Northern Leaders podcast.
The podcast interviews some of the names that were included in BusinessCloud’s 2024 Northern Leaders list.
You can listen to the episode, which has been sponsored by Wildbrook Commercial Real Estate, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
In a far-reaching interview, the boss of Manchester-headquartered Matillion has shared his thoughts on why the UK produces so few unicorns and the explosion in AI.
During his sixth form he undertook a work placement in the IT department of Regatta and ended up co-founding his own tech company at the age of 17.
Fast forward to 2011 and he and Ed Thompon quit their days jobs to launch Matillion and begin their journey to become a unicorn.
Matillion achieved unicorn status in 2021 although Scullion said it’s not something he’s obsessed by.
“The UK is number three in the world for creating unicorns, and number two is China, and number one is the US,” he said. “That’s not a bad knock, is it?
“What we don’t do is create big businesses. A unicorn isn’t a big business. We create a lot less $100m revenue businesses than unicorns
“A unicorn is just a valuation, you could have no revenue and be a unicorn, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But the thing I’m trying to point out here is, it’s just a milestone on the way to building something big.
“A big company is something that you and me use every day, even though the headquarters is 4,000 miles away. That’s a big company. Apple is a big company. Amazon’s a big company. Meta’s a big company.”
Matillion is investing millions of pounds into AI and Scullion said the world doesn’t appreciate the pace that it will change the world as we know it.
“AI is going to change every aspect of how we all work, live and play much quicker than I think most people think,” he said.
“It’s also a massive focus for Matillion. We’re spending millions of pounds every 90 days investing in R&D around AI, and what we’re being able to do with AI technology and foundation models for our customers is just super awesome, and I’m really excited about it.”
The Northern Leaders podcast is produced by What Media.
You can listen to the Northern Leaders podcast on Spotify; on Apple Podcasts; or on YouTube.