Getting to know…
Matt Johnson
Profile l Matt Johnson
Bare Conductive’s CEO and co-founder capitalised on his
unusual academic background to create innovative
electrically conductive paint and sensor hardware
Q
a
Tell us about your career to date. How did you find
yourself working with electrically conductive paint?
that’s a great question. My career has not been linear! i’m
originally from the us where i studied e conomics and fine
art. i worked for a few years trying to find a way to combine my
love of physical making with the analytical side of my brain. still
stuck on that question, i applied for the innovation design
engineering program at the royal college of art in london. i felt
immediately at home in a department full of diverse skills and
interests.
what is now Bare conductive began as student project
focused on developing new materials for electronics that would
exist close to the body. it has since developed into a company
dedicated to developing two interconnected technology
platforms, electrically conductive paint and capacitive sensing
a
My role is to look across the business, understand what
everyone is contributing and ensure that they are aiming in
though we’re still a small organisation, we have diverse
In 2013, Bare Conductive ran a successful Kickstarter
stakeholders with valid and often competing priorities. i try to
campaign to launch its first hardware product. What are
remain sufficiently informed to help balance the needs of the
your top tips for anyone considering this for their business?
a
comment on the support you give internally to the other
areas of the business, such as commercial, operations and R&D.
the same direction. it’s a job of many languages.
hardware.
Q
Q
Can you describe your role as CEO and co-founder and
different areas of the business, while not losing sight of our
direction by being drawn too deeply into a team’s work.
Kickstarter – or crowdfunding in general – is a powerful
tool. we raised significantly more than we were looking for.
we started the campaign aiming for £15,000 and ended up with
on a day-to-day basis, i speak to everyone in the organisation,
especially because it relates to technology, products and
marketing. our technology empowers our goals, our products
over £122,000. it was a success, but that level of success can
manifest our goals to the market and our marketing helps our
also put a lot of pressure on an organisation. But we made it
customers understand why what we do is meaningful to them.
through with 1895 new members of the community, growing
the company and laying the foundation for the next stage of
our business
i could spend all day giving crowdfunding advice, but the
in your professional and personal life?
i’m guilty of not spending much time reflecting on our
most important things to focus on are:
pr before the campaign – don’t expect people to just arrive
scenario-plan your campaign – is your campaign going to be
sufficiently profitable if everyone chooses a single reward?
Q
a
What would you say has been the greatest achievement
current success, so there isn’t an easy answer, but the best
answer is probably the business itself.
when you are working hard on a new venture it is easy to forget
communicatie with your backers – things won’t go as
that you are creating something out of nothing. it’s all too easy to
planned, but people will understand if you give them regular,
forget that six years ago we were in my flat, having just graduated
honest updates on what is happening.
and wondering whether this whole idea would go anywhere.
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