Replay: Matt Miesnieks on a 6D.ai Postmortem and Startup CEO Masterclass

Replay of an interview originally published in October 2020….

The Guest

Many of you know Matt Miesnieks as a serial entrepreneur and former investor focused on Augmented Reality. Matt was most recently the CEO and co-founder of 6D.ai, a company building tools to help mobile phones understand the real world and enable compelling AR experiences.

Matt started his career in a number of engineering and business roles, before shifting his focus to Augmented Reality more than 10 years ago. Matt was head of customer development at Layar, an early consumer AR company. He founded Dekko, the first mobile mixed reality platform for iOS. Matt worked at Samsung as a director of product development in AR & VR. And he was a founding partner at Super Ventures, an early stage investor in AR & VR.

Most recently, he was the founder and CEO af 6D.ai, which gained a lot of recognition among AR developers and enthusiasts for the demos they published showcasing their advanced software APIs enabling more useful and exciting AR experiences. Earlier in 2020, Niantic acquired the company.

Matt Miesnieks

LinkedIn | Twitter

6D.ai / Niantic

The Conversation

I caught up with Matt earlier this summer to talk about his entrepreneurial journey at 6D.ai. He shares an honest and insightful perspective across a number of topics, including

  • mapping the world for AR, 

  • what 6D got wrong about their target customer and how they addressed it, 

  • the worst mistake they made and what he learned from it, 

  • how companies are bought and valued, 

  • the responsibilities of a startup CEO in creating optionality, 

  • the emotional rollercoaster, 

  • the role of self care,

  • and more.

Matt shares a lot of hard earned wisdom. I think you’ll love this one.

Jason McDowallAR Cloud, startup