{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Escape Velocity.","title":"How failure, persistence & vertical obsession fuels growth | Matthew Black, Founder & CEO, Mav","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1844,"description":"Matthew’s path to building Mav wasn’t linear—and that’s exactly why it worked. From early tech obsession to hard lessons learned the hard way, he shares how failure sharpened his instincts and fueled the creation of Mav, an AI insurance agent replacing traditional call centers through friendly, always-on texting.\n\nIn this conversation, Matthew breaks down what actually drives growth: customer obsession, clean metrics, and vertical focus and why staying ahead in AI means learning faster than the market. He also opens up about decision-making under pressure, work-life integration (not balance), and why experience isn’t baggage in entrepreneurship, it’s leverage.\nIn this episode, we jam on:\n1. Failure as a training ground.\nEarly losses forged the perseverance that ultimately powered Mav’s breakout.\n\n2. How cost opens the door, but experience wins the room.\nAI savings matter but Mav’s real edge is a better, faster, always-on customer experience.\n\n3. Go deep or get left behind.\nVertical mastery in insurance beat horizontal shortcuts and helped Mav outperform human call centers.\n\n4. The next threat isn’t human.\nWinning in AI means staying ahead of new, AI-native competitors before the rules harden.\n\n5. Focus on who you serve. The score will take care of itself.\nClear service, clean habits, and non-negotiables drive both business growth and personal sustainability.\nMeet the guest\nMatthew Black is a tech entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience scaling products across Martech and AI. He began his career building early social networking platforms for MTV and Viacom, then worked on advertising and identity technology at DoubleClick (later acquired by Google). He is now the Founder and CEO of Mav, building AI-powered call center infrastructure for insurance agencies and carriers. Mav powers nearly half a million conversations across the U.S. every month, making hyper-efficient growth accessible to every agency.\nAbout Mav\nMav helps financial services and insurance...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/ry9PvFynUiNDR1nS0UB2IjtMCQ_CcHtaFAriKpv8jWA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yYjlh/OGExZWIzZGM1NGE2/YWZlOGQ1ZTBlNzk3/YTNhOC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}