Once a disrupter, always a disrupter.

While doing business on the golf course has become a bit of a cliché, this entrepreneur became a golf pro in order to conduct business away from the golf greens. Matt Rowlands, a partner at Tekton Performance Films, based in Guelph, Ontario, began his 25 year entrepreneurial run as a student at Georgian College’s Golf Industry Management program because of his love for the hard goods side of the business, namely golf equipment.

As Matt puts it, he gravitates to industries that are ripe for change; however he acknowledges that you can’t assume you know how to disrupt an industry without spending time in it. Years later he can still hit the ball hard and far which may also be a metaphor for his approach to business. What is clear though is that Matt’s gaze is well over the horizon and that approach has helped keep him ahead of the competition.

While his career has also gone through the safety industry both on the footwear manufacturing and components side his focus over the past five years has strictly been growing Tekton in the automotive and architectural industries. While he acknowledges that there is no direct link to any of the industries he worked in; however, for him, the commonalities are that they are businesses period, and that they have allowed him to the opportunity to make changes from within.  

Matt admits to being opinionated, but also feels his commitment to becoming an industry expert in all of the industries he has worked in allows him this perspective. And despite his personal need to excel, he is a firm believer in letting others make mistakes as long as they learn from them. As he says, “I will accept any mistake as long as it is original.”

And, as to advice for those starting their careers Matt believes that young people should want to do as much as possible, do everything, and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

For more on my interview with Matt listen to the podcast.