MATT BECKETT ~ ACCELERATOR | ANALYSIS | ADVISORY

MATT BECKETT
Startup Thinker, Consultant & Coach
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Cyclist & Performance Coach
MY BUSINESS LIFE
I've spent my whole life building business ventures of various sizes, across industries, and with a wide range of successes and failures.
I love the thinking out, testing, planning and building new ventures and businesses. Having gone through the process for my own ventures over the years and in many forms - I've found that I'm able to add some real value to others by sharing and guiding the same process, while getting some real personal value and satisfaction.
Currently I'm working on starting, streamlining or growing ventures with a few great clients, and hoping to find some more for whom I can add value.


MY SPORTINGÂ LIFE
I grew up on a bicycle, with dreams of racing in Europe, days of training, and nights studying exercise science.
Having left the sport for years after I decided to stop competing, I got back into it 2018 and instantly re-found the old passion.
Along with a small, fantastic crew, I started building a lifestyle business of coaching and racing. I'm currently coaching a few great people, ranging from beginners to race winners and aim to keep building a community and network in the cycling world.
I believe that overlaps between our personal passions and work drivers should not be forgotten in 2019. In that vein I'm aiming to develop a professional network and skillset with my sporting affinity and business history both at work.
CLIENTS & COLLABORATORS
Those who I have~Â Â worked with | worked for | learnt from | given value to

DENIS VADEN
CEO - Brandcrafters
Founder - Fresh Brands
The bouncing & testing of business ideas, along with real questioning and harsh criticism at times from Matt, has been fantastic as a sounding board for my personal and business direction.

GEORGIE HOWDEN
Director ~ Greyslate Projects
The combination of Matt's knowledge of the local market and his operational experience made an invaluable contribution to evaluating financials, return on investment and strategic operational guidance.

GILES REARDON-SMITH
Founder ~Â The Buck & Bulldog
Matt's business planning, and hard-headedness on keeping the pitch and business plan clear, feasible and sharply focused, has been the difference in getting our startup funded and ready to go.

JON SCHOLTZ
Partner at The Artisan, client in
Matt’s work ethic, passion and tenacity toward his goals, combine to create pleasurable and productive work environments. As a partner in hospitality, our business relationship was honest and educational through its entirety.
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MY STORY & EXPERIENCE
PERFORMANCE COACH | CYCLELAB
January 2004 - June 2007
While studying my B.Com, with additional Exercise Science, I started off working as a trainer and cycling coach at Cyclelab, which then progressed into a private practice working on performance endurance coaching for cyclists and runners.
FOUNDER & TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR | ACE HIGH POKER
July 2007 - June 2016
Having burned out of cycling, coaching and racing, I dived into a new hobby and passion business - poker.
Myself and a partner started off with corporate events and private games, rapidly finding ourselves getting contracted to a few casinos to coordinate their larger poker events.
The business found a strong niche and built a great reputation, growing to become a full service poker events company. We covered everything from event promotion and coordination, to HR and infrastructure, to financial management and reporting, and important niche customer service.
CO-OWNER & OPERATOR | GIN BAR
March 2012- December 2014
Realising that the local poker market was saturated and had limited space for growth, my partners and I bought a bar in Greenside. We got involved in every aspect o operations, and here I started to learn the ins and outs of the food & beverage world.
FOUNDER & OPERATOR | THE ARTISAN COCKTAIL & TAPAS BAR
January 2015 - April 2019
With trends in Greenside changing, we shut down Gin and went about turning it into something more upmarket, aimed at better serving a geographically closer customer base. This brought us to The Artisan, which offered a more upmarket experience. This came with tons of learning, a lot of misses and some losses. Once over the initial teething we redefined, improved and clarified the offering, and settled in as upmarket-casual cocktail & tapas bar.
As is the always the case with small businesses my roles here covered everything from menu development, brand, customer service, maintenance, HR management, to financial management.
SME DEVELOPMENT & CONSULTING
Nov 2016 - Current
Having gained experience and knowledge from my own startup, along with various other ventures along the way - I took on a few jobs consulting the restaurant world, with a small, strong team I put together. These ranging from full set-up, to turn around strategy, to minor menu development. From there I started to realise that my stimulation lies in the essence of business development and strategy, not specifically dependent on the industry. As such I aim to work on building up or growing SMEs or projects of lager businesses, combining acquired knowledge and practices with more nuanced experience and business thinking moulded by my own successes, ideas and failures and sometimes catalysed by some fairly alternative viewpoints.
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MY SERVICES
What I Do

STARTUP PLANNING
From ideation, through, planning, through pitches, fundraising and implementation - I offer a flexible business partnership or coaching, wherein I help to frame, formalise and clarify a business idea to the point at which its investable and the operations are ready to go.

FINANCIAL FORECASTING
Creation of model P&Ls, forecasting of revenue and expenses over any time period, working on the business's market assumptions or real figures.

PITCH DEVELOPMENT
Co-building pitches with passionate founders - I aim to channel what the founder's offer and USP is, understand how this translates into a real viable business, and build this into communicable and clear pitches to relevant investors or other stakeholders.

COMMECIALIZATION STRATEGY
My favourite question or challenge in business is: "I have a great idea, product, mission or ability - how do I turn this into something profitable and commercially feasible?"
Especially when relating to social enterprises, I believe that any service or product of value can and should be turned into a business, and love to delve into how to make that happen.
LET’S CONNECT
The R of SA. Preferably Jozi or Cape Town. Alternatively the magical place called the internet.
0834574119
