About
I'm Matt Hopkins. I write about AI, business, and what happens when the two collide.
I'm not the 17th-century witchfinder. I'm not the actor from FBI: Most Wanted. I'm the one who's spent 30+ years building, running, and selling technology businesses — and now writes about how AI is reshaping all of it.
I'm based in Southsea, on the South Coast of England. I grew up in Texas, graduated from Texas A&M in 1988, and moved to the UK in 1992. I've been here ever since — though the accent's still intact.
Right now I'm focused on three things: writing about AI-first business strategy on this site, developing a training course called AI: Beyond the Prompt, and building with AI agents every day.
The career in brief
I've always started things. Paper routes, firework stands, a photography business that employed a dozen people while I was still in college. That one taught me two things: I love building businesses, and I love building software to run them. I wrote the management system that ran the photography company — and it added to the company's value when I sold it in my senior year.
Since then:
- Software consulting — I joined a small firm on the South Coast in 1992. By 1996 I was Managing Director. We grew to £3.5M in revenue and were engaged by Borland to build their professional services organisation for Europe, with an option to acquire. I left in 2007 and fully divested in 2012.
- Vertical Leap — I founded this search engine marketing company in 2001, introducing a new concept: Managed Search Engine Marketing. We combined intelligent algorithms with smart people to deliver better results for mid-sized UK businesses. At its peak: 50+ employees, £3.6M in sales, sustained growth every year — even during recessions. I sold Vertical Leap to the Sideshow Group (now GAIN, a top-ten UK independent digital agency) in 2016 and stayed through 2018 to support the transition.
- Other ventures — An online estate agency selling Spanish properties. A B2B/B2C confectionery business. Both with successful exits. Plus various consulting engagements with companies ranging from startups to global enterprises.
Why AI
I've been automating things for over 30 years. Every business I've built has had technology at its core — not because I'm a technologist for the sake of it, but because I've always believed the best businesses are the ones where systems do the repeatable work and people do the thinking.
AI is the most significant shift I've seen in all that time. Not because of the technology itself — we've had waves of transformative tech before — but because of what it means for how businesses are built, structured, and scaled.
The old model was: start small, hire to grow, build management layers, add process, accept overhead as the cost of scale. AI breaks that model. A five-person company with the right agent infrastructure can now operate with the capability of a fifty-person one. Small teams — Viking ships — can stay lean and powerful instead of bloating as they grow.
That's what I write about here. Skip the hype, skip the doom — I'm interested in the practical reality of what AI changes for business owners, builders, and anyone trying to work smarter in a world that's shifting fast.
What I write about
- AI transforming business — management, strategy, operations, and why the E-Myth is more relevant than ever
- AI tools people aren't using — practical, tutorial-style pieces on what you can actually do today
- Building with AI — coding, developer productivity, and the reality of working alongside AI every day
- AI agents and automation — personal agents, team-in-a-box concepts, and the agent layer that's coming for everyone
- The future of work — how AI changes hiring, team structure, career paths, and what "work" even means
Get in touch
I provide consulting on AI strategy, process automation, and helping leadership teams figure out where AI fits — and where it doesn't. I'm also developing AI: Beyond the Prompt, a training course for people who want to go beyond chatbots and actually build with AI.
If any of that's useful to you — or if you just want to talk — email me directly or use the form below.