Matthew Pohlson
CEO and Co-Founder, Omaze · Co-Founder & CEO, Omaze. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
2shows
2appearances
46statements
18resolved
8supported
4contradicted
44%fully supported
Everything Matthew Pohlson said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Pohlson: Omaze's UK subscription retention rivals Spotify and Netflix
“We put it in the category of a consumer subscription entertainment, you know, like a Spotify or a Netflix and the retention rates. Are at that level.”
Omaze's Subscriber Retention Rates Rival Netflix and Spotify
“It's right up there with the top consumer subscription companies in the world. I mean, it's comparable to Netflix, Spotify.”
Omaze Beat WME, CAA, Airbnb, and Groupon in Celebrity Campaigns
“At one point we were producing 400 celebrity videos a year, you know, and our team, like, figured out that process, was really good at learning from that process. Like, that's why we, like, that's why we were the only ones who did a celebrity that made it. We'…”
Omaze Targets $8B Revenue and Gates Foundation-Level Charitable Impact
“It's not our 10 year vision, but it's our 15 year vision, is Fortune 500 impact number one. The Fortune 500 is right now is eight billion in revenue to be on that list. Impact number one means the number one source of charitable funds in the world outside of g…”
Pohlson details Omaze revenue split: 1/3 charity/VAT, 1/3 prizes, 1/3 ops/profit
“A seven million dollar house can raise, call it thirty three million in sales. A third of that goes to charity and VAT. A third of that goes to the price and costs. In addition to the house, we cover all the taxes for the winter. We give away cash prizes. We h…”
Pohlson: Omaze laid off 180 US employees to focus on the UK
“I mean, it meant like letting go of, you know, a 180 people that were amazing people that a lot of which had been there since the beginning of Omaze and were uber creative and uber resilient and super talented, but it was just the reality of where we were.”
Pohlson: Most businesses shouldn't try to 'do good' beyond supporting employees
“You know, the vast majority of companies shouldn't necessarily try to do good. I think what they can do good is do good by their team. Make sure what they're doing does no harm. But creating a big business in its own right that, that serves customers or serves…”
Outlander's Sam Heughan Outgrossed Brad Pitt as Omaze's Top Talent
“Whereas like a guy named Sam Heughan, who's on a show called Outlander, which is a kind of a sci-fi romantic show set in Scotland. He's our highest grossing talent of all time, more than George Clooney or Brad Pitt or Matt Damon, or you name it, because he has…”
Omaze Spent $250K on a McLaren With Only $900K in Cash
“And so I, then I went to our CFO, Nina, and I said, hey, I think we should offer a car. We should go buy a 250,000 dollar McLaren, offer it with just a maze, no talent. Because if we could do that on our own, then we would control our own destiny. We would rea…”
The Bachelor Has the Highest Educated TV Audience in the US
“Same in the US, like The Bachelor, the highest educated audience in the US is The Bachelor.”
40% of All Global Television Content Is House-Related
“40% of all television in the world is about houses, like some kind of house transformation show, some kind of DIY, you know, 60% of all TV is reality, and two-thirds of that is about houses.”
Omaze Shut Down Its Entire US Team to Pivot to the UK
“We shut down our whole US team because to focus on the house model in the UK.”
London Uniquely Combines Politics, Finance, and Entertainment Within One Mile
“London is incredibly dynamic. You know, it's the only city in the world where you have a relevant center for politics, a relevant center for entertainment, a relevant center for finance that are within a mile of each other.”
Omaze Will Reach Roughly 30% EBITDA Margins at Scale
“You know, at scale, this will be roughly a 30% EBITDA margin business. We're not there now.”
Pohlson: Omaze shifted from celebrity campaigns to prizes despite board resistance
“It inspired me when I came back from this to change the business being from Being focused on celebrities to focused on prizes. That was a huge change for us. We got a lot of resistance from our board and the team, but I was not scared of what people thought of…”
Pohlson: Houses are the ideal prize because they fulfill Maslow's hierarchy
“A car changes someone's lifestyle house changes someone's life. And it's the person perfect product to storytell around. You know, like a house like represents all of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, its safety, its security, its status, its relationships, its sel…”
Pohlson: Omaze's 20-person UK team surpassed 180-person US team sales
“You know, we had 20 people in the UK. We passed the sales of the US at a hundred, had a 180 people in like 15 months.”
Pohlson: Omaze is past a $400M revenue run rate
“We're, I won't, I don't give exact numbers, but we're past a four hundred million run rate.”
Pohlson: $10 Micro-Donation Entries Outperform Exclusive Charity Auctions
“If we make it so anybody can donate 10 dollars for the chance to win, you could raise so much more money, so much more awareness, open up a whole new donor base.”
Omaze's Breaking Bad Finale Campaign With Bryan Cranston Raised $1.7M
“And that one raised 1.7 million.”
Omaze's Call of Duty and Cristiano Ronaldo Campaigns Underperformed Expectations
“We thought being Call of Duty, you got to have a character in Call of Duty would raise a lot. That did not. Without Ronaldo, get your haircut and play football with Ronaldo would raise a lot. That's a knot.”
Pohlson: Fear is short-term motivation that worsens decision-making over time
“Fear constricts you, makes you focus on things that you think are threatening you, spikes your cortisol levels. Again, it can be very motivating, but Over time, it makes you make worse decisions.”
Omaze's Daniel Craig Aston Martin Campaign Raised $2.1M Against $300K Projection
“We had done a campaign with Daniel Craig, where you got to go to New York, you got to ride around in a one-of-a-kind Aston Martin, and you got to keep the Aston Martin. And it was the first time we'd offered a prize. We thought it would raise 300,000 and it ra…”
Omaze's Talent-Free McLaren Campaign Raised $1.9M Against a $500K Target
“Well, yeah, bad, but it turned out to be great, because when I came back, I was sitting down with her, and I had all this distance and all this perspective, and said, by the way, whatever happened with the McLaren, did it raise the 500,000? She said it raised …”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Matthew's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 20VCLEDGER | Co-Founder & CEO, Omaze | 1 | 33 | 40% 6/15 | full record on 20VC → |
 MASTERS OF SCALELEDGER | CEO and Co-Founder, Omaze | 1 | 13 | 67% 2/3 | full record on Masters of Scale → |