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Matthew Blode

Speaking

Talks on shipping fast, AI-assisted engineering, and product craft.

You can sense carelessness

Next.js Melbourne meetup · BuildPass, Melbourne

Users notice when you cut corners — even if they never see the code. This talk unpacks why product taste matters and how the details you think are invisible still shape how a product feels.

  • Explored why the details users never consciously notice still shape how a product feels.
  • Presented to ~50 developers and product builders at the Next.js Melbourne meetup.
  • Slide deck shared publicly after the event.
Slides (opens in new tab)Event page (opens in new tab)

Ship fast or die

Startmate mentor session · Melbourne

Built for the latest Startmate cohort. A working session on Claude Code workflows, the real sources of drag in early-stage teams, and when slowing down is the fastest move.

  • Delivered as part of a new mentorship with Startmate.
  • Covered Claude Code, velocity killers, and when to slow down to speed up.
  • Slide deck published publicly after the session.
Slides (opens in new tab)

You don't have to make AI slop

Melbourne builder meetup · Melbourne

AI tools make it easy to ship faster. They also make it easy to ship worse. This talk covers the specific habits that keep the quality bar high when you’re building with AI every day.

  • Explored the gap between using AI tools and producing AI-quality output.
  • Shared specific habits for keeping the bar high when shipping with AI.
  • Slides published publicly after the session.
Slides (opens in new tab)

Building at different scales

The Outlook panel · Melbourne

What changes when you go from a three-person startup to Atlassian scale? A panel with Tarra van Amerongen and Trudi Boatwright on how execution methods shift while the core mission stays constant.

  • Joined Tarra van Amerongen and Trudi Boatwright for the panel.
  • Explored how execution methods shift with company scale while the core mission stays constant.
Video (opens in new tab)

Topics

Zero-to-one product buildingAI-assisted engineeringProduct taste and craftStartup execution speedDeveloper toolingCommunity-led learning

Community

Co-founder of the VCMC Melbourne meetup. 70+ members and growing.

  • Co-founded the VCMC Melbourne meetup — 60 people at the first event.
  • Grew the VCMC builder group to 70+ members and 15,000+ messages.
  • Second meetup sold out at 52 guests with a 16-person waitlist.

Invite me to speak

Meetups, panels, and builder events. Get in touch if that fits your audience.