matt smith.

Here's what I've made.

Everything below is live and each case explains the work behind it.

Let's talk See the work
Matt built the tools our office runs on now. Customers apply, pay and get their shipping label online, and my team stopped doing that work by hand.
Habi Pasha, Owner, Global VIP Services
Matt Smith

Matt Smith

Chicago, Illinois

On camera since October 2017. Every card below opens its own case study.

Tools I build with.

Claude Code
Codex
DaVinci Resolve
Final Cut Pro
YouTube
Stripe
Vercel

THE WORK

The work, by discipline.

Automations

Jobs a business used to do by hand, now done by software.

A passport, a card, a shipping label and an order log, linked by a red flight path over Los Angeles

Global VIP Services · Passport & visa expediting · Los Angeles

A passport office where nobody types a shipping label anymore.

One checkout now charges the card, makes the FedEx label, emails it and logs the order.

Read the case study
A plum velvet barber chair in an old bank lobby, with a phone, a calendar, scissors and review stars floating around it

Diell's barbershop · Barbershop and lounge · Taylor Street, Chicago

A barbershop where the phone answers itself and regulars come back.

A receptionist books the barber the caller asks for. Texts thank, ask for a review and rebook.

Read the case study

Custom client builds

Tools built for one client and the exact problem they had.

BLP Experiential Studio: sweep the posts, find who was there, check every picture, count what is real
Saad Ahmed

BLP Experiential Studio · Experiential marketing · Brand activations

Proving a brand activation worked, without scrolling Instagram by hand.

Reads the public posts, checks each picture against the booth, counts only what ties to the event.

Read the case study
Kris Papa, artist manager: map the niche, pull the comments, rank them, Kris's board
Kris Papa

Kris Papa, artist manager · Artist management

One page shows Kris what his artist's niche is discussing online.

Real TikTok comments from the niche, ranked against their own video, on a private board Kris owns.

Read the case study

Web design

The Visibility Buddy home page

Visibility Buddy · My own web design studio

Websites built and optimized to get businesses' phones ringing.

Sites for local businesses that look right, answer the questions people ask, and turn searches into calls.

Read the case study

180+ websites built.

My done for you podcasting service.

Built on the same system I use for my own show.

The hero video from podcastautopilot.io. Tap the speaker for sound.

Send me the recording, or let me run the show. I turn it into a finished episode, twelve clips and a week of posts, on every platform your customers already use.

  • The long-form editNames and numbers on screen.
  • Twelve clipsCaptioned and vertical, each with a cover.
  • Published everywhereYouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
  • A week of postsClips posted to your accounts for you.
See Podcast Autopilot How the system works
The top of the Podcast Autopilot home page: Hand me the footage. I'll run the show.

Podcast Autopilot, my own studio · Done-for-you podcasts for companies

A done-for-you podcast studio, run on the system I built.

Companies record. The edit, the graphics, twelve clips and the posting run on the engine in 07.

Visit podcastautopilot.io
MY OWN SHOW, SINCE 2017

One show. Four names. Ten years.

I have run my own interview show since October 2017, under four names. The logo changed every few years. The habit did not.

Host, producer, editor · 100+ videos · now co-host of Polymaths with Gera Banno

  1. 2017

    Hustle Gurus

  2. 2019

    Do Good Podcast

  3. 2022

    The Intersection

  4. 2023

    The Intersection

  5. 2026

    The Matt Show

  6. Now

    Polymaths

The Matt Show

2017 · 100+ videos

My own interview series: artists, managers, founders. Every episode booked, shot, edited and posted by me. One of the first three uploads was a set of customer interviews.

Customer interviews at the Iovine Young Academy, 2017
Sydny August interview
Juliana Miller on A and R

On camera since October 2017. See the channel

Polymaths

2026 · cut on the engine in 07

The show I co-host with Gera Banno. Every episode is cut with the engine I built on Claude Code and DaVinci Resolve, clips and thumbnails included, then posted on a schedule.

He grew up on Section 8. Now his store does 4 million a year
Faiz Imran built 840K in pipeline in 6 weeks just by posting
His app did 6 million a month in orders. He kept a dollar from each one

82 graphics in episode one, none of them animated by hand. See the channel

Social media

In-house social for four startups.

Light Pong short-form video

Light Pong · Consumer hardware

50M views in three months, and the Kickstarter funded at 200%.

2021 to 2023

In-house TikTok and Instagram for a two-person hardware startup, shot and edited in the office.

Read the case study
Rivet podcast channel

Rivet · Music technology

Fifty artist interviews rewrote the pitch. The podcast built the network.

2023

Head of digital marketing for a music platform: the research, the messaging and the weekly show.

Read the case study
A Sublet Inn coliving kitchen

Sublet Inn · Chicago coliving

Instagram that let renters feel the house before they toured it.

2024 to 2025

Two content pillars, the spaces and the people in them, plus every listing site renters use.

Read the case study
Intraplex LinkedIn article

Intraplex · Enterprise AI

Explaining on-premise AI to executives in healthcare and finance.

2025 to 2026

LinkedIn articles and illustrated Instagram posts on the risks of cloud AI for regulated industries.

Read the case study

Content creation

Video for two startups, and my own interview show since 2017.

In The Office With Light Pong

Light Pong · Video production

Five kinds of video from inside a hardware startup.

2021 to 2023

Year in review, a knock-off teardown, day in the life, community stories, the CTO coding a game.

Read the case study
Fanarchy with Rivet on set

Rivet · Video production

Explainers, artist spotlights and a weekly show for a music platform.

2023

Explainers with the founders, artist spotlights, an awards night and a weekly podcast.

Read the case study
The Matt Show, Music Is A Feelings Business

The Matt Show · My own interview show · Since 2017

My own interview show, booked, shot and cut by me since 2017.

Since 2017

Conversations with artists, managers and founders. Every episode booked, filmed, edited and posted by me.

Read the case study
Hustle Gurus Chicago

Hustle Gurus · Documentary series · Chicago, 2017

Day-in-the-life stories about people building things in Chicago.

2017

Short documentaries from a CPS hackathon, World Chicago, Screencastify and an early Chicago VR store.

Read the case study

Polymaths and Podcast Autopilot · My own show, then a service

How I automated long-form and viral clip creation for podcasting.

One engine turns the recording into a finished, on-brand episode. A second one cuts the clips. I built both for Polymaths, the show I co-host, and now sell them as Podcast Autopilot.

Long-form system

  1. 01Transcribe the episode and tag every speaker
  2. 02Plan the graphics from the transcript
  3. 03Render them from the show's brand kit
  4. 04Build and render the episode in Resolve

Clip system

  1. 01Pick the strongest moments
  2. 02Give every clip its own look and sound
  3. 03Frame every face, never clip a word
  4. 04Check, finish and post one a day
82graphics in episode one
108graphics in episode two
190sound effects in episode one
12clips cut from a single episode
Read the case study See Podcast Autopilot
Faiz Imran built $840K in pipeline in 6 weeks just by posting
The full episode with Faiz Imran, edited by the long-form system.

Ads

Paid social on Meta, aimed with personas built from real inquiries.

The Sublet Inn ad, with an arrow to the strategy: tenant emails into six personas into one campaign

Sublet Inn · Paid social on Meta · Chicago coliving

Meta ads for coliving, aimed at personas built from real inquiries.

Six ad sets from real tenant emails: students, parents, expats and a lookalike of current tenants.

Read the case study
The URS ad, with an arrow to the strategy: client emails, a homeowner persona, an instant quote form, leads

URS Construction & Development · Paid social on Meta · Home renovation

A $385 ad budget that brought a contractor 21 renovation leads.

Meta ads with instant quote forms, built from testimonials, walkthroughs and before and after reels.

Read the case study

Market research

Interviews turned into positioning and reports.

The report cover with a handwritten note about what is inside

Rivet · Positioning · Music technology, 2023

Two message territories for a music platform, ready to test.

A 37-page deck: two positioning territories, taglines, ad scripts and a plan to test them.

Read the case study
The report cover with a handwritten note about what is inside

One 2 One Insight x Symmetry Wood · Market research · Guitar industry, 2023

Does sustainability sell guitars? I asked Martin, Taylor and a luthier.

Six interviews with guitar makers, a luthier and a podcast host on what buyers really care about.

Read the case study
The report cover with a handwritten note about what is inside

Circley · Market research · Restaurants, 2023

What Chicago restaurants do for marketing, from six calls.

Recorded calls with restaurant owners and an advisor, turned into a 20-page report for Circley.

Read the case study

My own SaaS tools

Products of my own: one launched, one on a waitlist.

ClipCover website

ClipCover, my own product · Covers and thumbnails for podcasts

Paste a video link and get cover images and thumbnails for your broadcast.

Launched July 2026. Paused for now

It finds the good frames, writes the headline from what was said and lays out the cover.

Read the case study
True Fan waitlist page

True Fan, my own product · Social analytics for artist managers and brands

Analytics that measure if you're growing a loyal fan base.

Waitlist open

Not a follower count. Which real people come back on TikTok and Instagram, month after month.

Read the case study

RECOGNITION

As a 17-year-old intern at Midwest Immersive, I brought in the client for an AR campaign that won a Shorty Social Good Award and was written up by the AMA.

3rd Annual Shorty Social Good Awards, winner in augmented reality

3rd Annual Shorty Social Good Awards

Winner, augmented reality
American Marketing Association

American Marketing Association

Why AR may be the future of experiential marketing

What the people I built for said.

Saad Ahmed
It's clean, it moves, and it makes us look like the agency we already are.
Saad Ahmed, Brown Leaf Promotions / BLP Experiential Studio
The whole review

We create brand experiences for a living, so I'm hard to impress when it comes to design. Matt built Brown Leaf a site that finally matches the work we put out. It's clean, it moves, and it makes us look like the agency we already are.

John Seyferth
No chasing, no headaches, just steady updates and good instincts.
John Seyferth, Business Partner, Lockyer Law
The whole review

I brought Matt in to build out the Lockyer Law site, and it turned out to be one of the easiest projects I've been part of. He understood what we were going for right away, moved fast, and made the whole thing feel effortless on my end. No chasing, no headaches, just steady updates and good instincts.

Habi Pasha
It's fast, it works on a phone, and it speaks to my customers in both English and Spanish, the way they actually reach us.
Habi Pasha, Owner, Global VIP Services
The whole review

I have run Global VIP since 2003, and my old website was holding us back. Matt rebuilt the whole thing. It's fast, it works on a phone, and it speaks to my customers in both English and Spanish, the way they actually reach us.

Kris Papa
I stopped guessing which songs people care about, and I walk into meetings with the receipts.
Kris Papa, Artist manager, 24kGoldn and Solo Celo
The whole review

Matt built me a tool that reads what fans are actually saying about my artists on TikTok and sorts it for me. I stopped guessing which songs people care about, and I walk into meetings with the receipts. He taught me how he builds it too.

Diell
When I told him I was opening my own place, he came back with a full plan for the phones, the texts and the reviews before we even talked price.
Diell, Owner, barbershop and lounge on Taylor Street, Chicago
The whole review

I've known Matt since he was getting haircuts at my mom's shop. When I told him I was opening my own place, he came back with a full plan for the phones, the texts and the reviews before we even talked price. I'm opening with it.

Who you would be working with.

I'm Matt Smith, in Chicago. I've mostly worked for startups and on my own ventures, wearing a lot of generalist hats along the way.

  1. Startups and my own ventures
  2. Digital marketing
  3. Now AI

That landed me in digital marketing and now AI, where I'm working hard to get better at using AI tools for media and marketing, and at building the products I've always had ideas for. I always had the language for a product in my head, but I had to lean on software engineers and technical co-founders to build it. Now I get to be the ideas guy in practice, not just in theory.

It started in February 2026, when I posted an Instagram story about not having hard technical skills. My friend Asim Zaidi, who used to be a Lead Frontend Engineer on Apple's AI Hub, replied, more or less: stop posting about it and download Claude Code in your terminal right now. I did, and I've been off to the races since.

I still write the code, cut the video and answer the email myself, so the person you talk to on the first call is the person who ships the work.

CHICAGO, IL See the work
Line drawing of Matt in an office chair, the sun through the glass walls behind him
Drive Capital office, West Loop, 2023. Chicago.

Let's collaborate.

I love working with founders and companies in every kind of industry. Tell me what you're building and let's figure out how we can work together.

It goes straight to my phone. I don't add you to a list.

Or pick a time: Pick a slot

Matt Smith, Chicago. matt@visibilitybuddy.com