Matt explains how he and his brother-in-law Nick developed the Rockit prototype in their shed and how 6 years later they are now selling into over 40 countries around the world. The process wasn’t easy especially as both of them gave up their day jobs to pursue Rockit full-time and had very little money to invest in launching a consumer product internationally. The importance of creating a unique product and a memorable brand are explored and how competitions, awards and grants provided vital funding and even more important PR opportunities. Matt also touches on the challenges of marketing on a budget and how this can be successfully amplified to compete with much bigger brands.

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Matt has had a long and varied career starting out as an Art Director in London ad agencies including Ogilvy and Saatchi’s. He then retrained and taught product design in schools and colleges for 20 years. In 2015 Matt quit his day job and co-founded Rockit with his brother-in-law Nick Webb to develop a device to rock babies to sleep in their prams. The Rockit stroller rocker was launched in 2017 and has since sold over half a million units worldwide. It has won numerous awards including 2 prestigious Queen’s Awards, a Lloyds Business Excellence Award and 3 Gold Junior Design Awards. Matt regularly gives talks on topics including exporting, crowdfunding, entrepreneurship, marketing and design.  Rockit has enjoyed coverage on National TV including the BBC New Channel and in publications such as Design Week, T3, The Times, Money Week and Vogue.

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