Matt Varley

About my role

I lead the sales & customer success functions globally. I see my role as hiring a high-performance team, articulating a clear strategy, working with my direct reports to chart a course on how to get there, and always being there to help where needed.

Why did you join Xplor?

I have always worked in tech companies, and I love working with founders that have got an ambitious vision to change one part of the world. Mark’s vision is to make education great, and it is nice to be able to come to work and contribute, but also have an impact on the future of education. Vision + Mark’s passion is why I joined Xplor, and it has been one hell of a ride to date.

What is the most interesting thing about Xplor?

Seeing people grow. There are a lot of people at Xplor that started in the last 2 years that had no experience in technology or childcare, or prior experience in their role. Seeing them develop, gain skills and change into completely different roles at Xplor is really amazing.

For example, we have a product manager who started in our support team and previously was a teacher, but now he has a bright product career ahead of him. It is nice to see people receive opportunities, work hard, and grow as professionals.

Favourite music? 

Depends on my mood. I like getting pumped up by listening to heavy rock and relax to Jazz or Classical. For a bit of fun, anything from Queen to Beatles to Broadway musicals. With my kids, it’s usually Frozen, Frozen 2, Moana, {insert any other Disney movie}

Tell us about something that you enjoy learning about outside of work.

I have a secret addiction to buying cookbooks. I love cooking, reading about cooking, and I buy more books than I could ever cook in a lifetime. I watch Masterchef every year, and binge on Chef’s Table (Netflix). Cooking is the way I relax and wind down the daily hustle.

Hidden talent?

I studied software engineering at university and graduated as a software engineer. I also play five musical instruments: piano, guitar, clarinet, sax and bass guitar.