Matt Clifford

Who they are

Matt Clifford is Chair of Entrepreneurs First — co-founded EF from scratch in 2011 and also co-founded Code First Girls, a nonprofit teaching women to code.

Person

Matt founded Entrepreneurs First in 2011 straight from McKinsey, where he'd been a consultant — EF was his bet that the best way to create world-changing companies was to invest in exceptional individuals before they had a co-founder, a team, or an idea. He read at Cambridge (Clare College) and later studied programming languages and data analysis at MIT, a combination that sits at the crossroads of analytical rigour and technical curiosity that runs through everything he does. Alongside EF he co-founded Code First Girls, a nonprofit that teaches women to code, with his EF co-founder Alice Bentinck. He stepped down as CEO of EF in December 2023, handing the role to Bentinck and moving to Chair — a transition from operator to strategic figurehead after more than a decade running the firm. His public voice is substantial: the 'Thoughts in Between' newsletter and podcast covers how technology collides with politics, culture, and society, and he interviews influential figures on AI, geopolitics, scientific progress, and entrepreneurship. In 2023 he led UK government preparations for the AI Safety Summit, which placed him at the centre of the policy conversation around frontier AI. The through-line is consistent: find the best people before anyone else does, back them early, and shape the institutional context — in venture, in policy, and in public discourse.

Company

In July 2026, Entrepreneurs First closed $200 million in fresh capital from a group that includes Patrick and John Collison, Eric Schmidt, Danny Rimer, and institutional investors including Greylock — the most significant fundraise in EF's history. The round follows a strategic shift that began in 2024, when EF started relocating all pre-seed-funded companies to the Bay Area ahead of their seed rounds; the firm reports that move halved average time to raise and doubled valuations. EF's portfolio now spans over 600 companies with a combined valuation of over $11 billion as of 2025. The firm describes itself informally as the 'CAA for startups' — a talent agency model applied to company formation.

Market

Entrepreneurs First occupies a distinct position in the startup formation market: it backs individuals before they have a co-founder or idea, which sets it apart from accelerators like Y Combinator and Wayra that require an existing team or concept. The broader venture context is striking — Q1 2026 saw $300 billion deployed into roughly 6,000 startups globally, an all-time high driven largely by AI compute and frontier-lab investment, a tailwind that makes EF's early-stage, talent-first model more relevant as competition for exceptional founders intensifies.

Network

Matt's closest professional relationship is with Alice Bentinck, who co-founded both EF and Code First Girls with him and now serves as EF's CEO. His investor network includes Reid Hoffman, who led a $12.4 million investment in EF in 2017, and Demis Hassabis, who is connected to the EF network as investor and mentor. The July 2026 fundraise added Patrick and John Collison and Eric Schmidt to EF's cap table, extending Matt's network firmly into the top tier of global tech.

Alice Bentinck· CEO & Co-Founder, Entrepreneurs First; Co-Founder, Code First Girls
Reid Hoffman· Investor, Entrepreneurs First
Demis Hassabis· Investor/Mentor, EF network
Patrick Collison· Investor (July 2026 round), Entrepreneurs First
Eric Schmidt· Investor (July 2026 round), Entrepreneurs First

How they likely show up

Founded EF in 2011 and ran it as CEO for over a decade before transitioning to Chair → thinks in multi-year institution-building arcs, not short cycles.
Hybrid role pattern (operator, investor, policy adviser, public intellectual simultaneously) → comfortable context-switching across very different rooms; unlikely to be a single-track specialist in conversation.
Active newsletter and podcast ('Thoughts in Between') with a broad intellectual scope — AI, geopolitics, entrepreneurship, culture → comfortable being visible and opinionated; responds well to substantive, specific engagement rather than small talk.
Led UK government preparations for the 2023 AI Safety Summit → operates at the policy-meets-technology interface and is used to translating between technical and political audiences.
Co-founded Code First Girls alongside EF, a separate nonprofit mission → high agency; runs parallel tracks by default and probably expects collaborators to hold their own without hand-holding.
Moved from CEO to Chair in December 2023 → currently in a more strategic, less day-to-day operational mode — questions about vision and direction will land better than operational detail.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific episode or essay from 'Thoughts in Between' — he'll know immediately whether you've read it, and it signals you engage with ideas, not just credentials.
→ Ask about the Bay Area relocation decision for EF portfolio companies — it's a concrete strategic bet with measurable outcomes (time-to-raise, valuations) that he can speak to directly.
→ Engage on AI policy substance, not just 'AI is important' — he led the 2023 UK AI Safety Summit and has strong, specific views; vague AI enthusiasm won't interest him.
→ Don't treat him as a pure investor — he thinks of himself as a talent investor and company builder first; framing around 'deal flow' or fund mechanics misreads the model.
→ He's now Chair, not day-to-day CEO — if you have operational EF questions, acknowledge that Alice Bentinck runs the firm; directing everything to Matt as if he's still CEO will feel out of date.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the July 2026 $200M raise and the Collisons joining the cap table — it's the freshest signal about where EF is heading and gives him a clear invitation to share the strategic rationale behind the round.
Reference the Bay Area relocation thesis — EF moved all pre-seed companies to the Bay Area in 2024 and cut time-to-raise in half while doubling valuations; it's a specific, countercultural bet worth probing.
Bring up a recent 'Thoughts in Between' episode — the newsletter/podcast sits at the intersection of AI, geopolitics, and entrepreneurship; citing a specific argument from it immediately separates you from someone who only Googled him.

Discovery questions

The 'CAA for startups' framing positions EF as a talent agency — how do you think about the long-term relationship with founders after they leave the EF programme, and does that model change as the portfolio passes 600 companies?
You led UK government preparations for the 2023 AI Safety Summit and have watched AI policy evolve since — where do you think the gap is largest between what policymakers understand and what's actually happening at the frontier?
Moving from CEO to Chair at EF in late 2023 — what does the firm look like from that seat that you couldn't see as clearly when you were running it day-to-day?

Avoid

Don't open with generic praise for EF as a 'Y Combinator competitor' — EF's identity is explicitly built on being different from YC (individuals not teams, pre-idea not post-idea), and flattening that distinction signals you haven't done the work.

Make it yours