Press & Media

Startup Guy, Technologist, Advisor
Portland, OR

Talks, interviews and coverage for the past 15 years, spanning FinOps, AI productivity, scaling startups, workplace culture and the Portland tech scene.

Media

Talk · 2025 · Startup Conversations
Lessons on Startup Success and Failures

Draws on Cloudability and Sixty AI to explore what makes startups succeed and fail.
YouTube → · Silicon Florist →

Interview · 2025 · Startup Conversations
How to Get Attention for Your Startup (Without a Big Budget)

Guerrilla marketing and building early traction as a resource-constrained founder.
YouTube →

Interview · 2024 · A Productive Conversation
Balancing Productivity and Personal Connection with AI

Using AI for productivity without losing the human element in relationships.
YouTube →

Interview · 2024 · Charles Cormier Podcast - Founder Wisdom
AI, Time Management, Life and Wealth with Mat Ellis

AI tools, time management philosophy, life design and wealth-building.
YouTube →

Talk · 2023 · Gwangju Startup Festival
Startups as a Team Sport

Keynote address at the Gwangju Startup Festival.
YouTube →

Interview · 2023 · Startup Haven
Member Brief with Mat Ellis, Founder of Sixty AI

Sixty AI’s vision as an AI-powered personal relationship manager and Mat’s work at Sunny Ventures.
YouTube →

Interview · 2023 · DARE Podcast · 30 min
Episode 12: Mat Ellis, Sixty AI

AI, philosophy, consciousness and the thinking behind Sixty AI.
Apple Podcasts → · Spotify →

Interview · 2023 · The Venture Capital Fastlane · 46 min
Cloudy With A Chance of AI

Deep dive on Cloudability, the FinOps movement and Sixty AI’s mission.
YouTube → · Spotify → · Apple Podcasts →

Interview · 2023 · The Capital Stack
Generative AI and Building Viral Products

Generative AI, building viral products and how Sixty AI is designed for human-compatible productivity.
Substack →

Interview · 2022 · Old Brightonians
A Holiday Message for Old Brightonians 2022

Holiday message to the Old Brightonians community.
YouTube →

Interview · 2022 · VMblog
Cloudability, FinOps & Joining the Board at Finout

Building Cloudability, the emergence of FinOps and his appointment to the board of Finout.
YouTube → · VMblog →

Interview · 2021 · Old Brightonians
A Holiday Message for Old Brightonians 2021

Holiday message to the Old Brightonians alumni (Brighton College, UK, 1984–1989).
YouTube →

Interview · 2020 · Crowdcast
Founder Stories: Mat Ellis, Founder of Cloudability

The full journey of building and selling Cloudability.
Crowdcast →

Interview · 2019 · Portland Incubator Experiment
From Concept Through Exit - A Startup Founder Interview

The full arc of Cloudability from founding through to acquisition by Apptio.
YouTube →

Interview · 2019 · Jones Lang LaSalle
The Evolution of Portland’s Tech Community

Portland’s transformation as a tech hub, Mat’s journey from startup to acquisition and the city’s future.
JLL →

Interview · 2019 · Nathan Latka
How To Run Your Cloud Like A Business

Cloudability’s approach to cloud financial management and running cloud infrastructure with business discipline.
YouTube →

Talk · 2017 · Oregon State Legislature
Cloudability’s Mat Ellis Testifies in Support of HB 2830

Testimony in support of House Bill 2830.
YouTube →

Interview · 2017 · The Cloudcast
Understanding Public Cloud Spending Trends

How enterprises track and manage public cloud spending, and the emerging discipline of cloud financial management.
The Cloudcast →

Interview · 2017 · SaaStr
Scaling SaaS Teams with Startup Hyper-Growth

When to hire a COO, maintaining culture during hypergrowth and balancing growth velocity with sustainability.
SaaStr →

Talk · 2016 · FutureTalks
A Cloudy Future

Cloud computing and the future of how businesses manage it. Believed to be the first recorded use of the word “FinOps” to describe managing cloud inputs and outputs.
YouTube →

Talk · 2014 · OEN Entrepreneurial Summit
CEO at Age 15 - Mat Ellis, Founder of Cloudability

Entrepreneurial backstory, including starting his first business at 15 before Goldman Sachs, Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay.
YouTube →

Talk · 2014 · PDX Tech Meetup
How Cloudability Helps You Win At Cloud

Live talk at the Portland tech meetup.
YouTube →

Interview · 2014 · Spanning
Cloud to Ground Podcast - Episode 5

The impact of cloud computing, the future of the industry and how cloud is changing IT.
YouTube →

Talk · 2013 · TAO Tech Leadership Forum
Grabbing The Cloud Cost Tiger By The Tail

Why moving to the cloud makes cost management so much harder and the three factors driving cloud spending volatility.
Slides →

Interview · 2013 · Building 43
Overcoming Hurdles to the Public Cloud

Panel discussion with Robert Scoble on the practical obstacles businesses face when moving to public cloud.
YouTube →

Interview · 2013 · This Week in Startups
This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis

The state of the cloud and the formation and growth of Cloudability. Calacanis called him “the Ricky Gervais of startups.”
YouTube → · Matellis.com → · Calacanis.com →

Interview · 2012 · The Cloudcast
Cloud Cost Concerns

The challenges businesses face managing and controlling cloud costs as adoption accelerates.
The Cloudcast →

Interview · 2012 · CloudTimes
Mat Ellis, Founder & CEO - Cloudability

YouTube →

Interview · 2012 · The Cloudcast
Cover Your *aaS, Cover Your Costs

Making the case for visibility into cloud spending before costs spiral out of control.
The Cloudcast →

Interview · 2011 · Startup Chronicle
Do Not Fear the Cloud - Parts 1 & 2

Mat Ellis and JR Storment make the case for cloud adoption. The earliest known video appearance.
YouTube - Part 1 → · YouTube - Part 2 →

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