Matt Willer is the Vice President of Capital Markets at Phoenix Capital Group. He has over 20 years of Capital Markets experience as both an Investment Banker and as a C-level executive with 3 fast-growing Public Companies. Born and raised in Southern California, Matt moved to Colorado with his family in 2011. Matt is a graduate of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business with an emphasis in Finance and Management.
Matt has been a lifelong student of Capital Markets. His tenured experience in both Finance and Corporate Executive roles is a well-suited addition to the Phoenix team. Matt has been involved in over 100 debt and equity financings and has been a party to a dozen M&A transactions on both the buy and sell side. Working closely with upper management on the near-term and long-term Capital requirements of organizations, Matt employs a strategic approach to maximize stakeholder value.
Matt, Thank you for talking with us. Tell me about your best and worst days at work.
My best days at work are when I don’t look at the time once; I’m on the phone all day with clients or prospects and leave the office feeling like I really made progress on the goals of the day, week, and year. For me, this is very enjoyable because it allows me to spend all my time doing what I’m best at, which ultimately is best for both me personally and the company as a whole.
My worst days are those littered with behind-the-scenes busy work, solving problems or mundane issues with 3rd party vendors, and feeling like little to no time has been spent on what my main role is designed to be. While many of these tasks are important so that I can have my best days, they feel like lost time and unproductive.
Who are the clients/what are the projects that you most enjoy working on?
I like working with existing and prospective clients where I can or have positively impacted their financial well-being. I also like talking to those that have not previously been introduced to the Phoenix Capital Group business or investment opportunity because it allows me to share with them our exciting past, present, and future and how that can translate into economic security and a rewarding investment for them and their families going forward.
What was your biggest ‘a-ha’ moment at Phoenix Capital Group?
At Phoenix Capital Group, my biggest “aha” moment was the first time I told the story in a way that nearly perfectly summarized the business so that someone with no prior knowledge understood and was excited by it. Our business has so many unique attributes that it can be challenging to summarize to a stranger succinctly. Part of my job, and something I have worked on throughout my career, is trying different messaging, changing cadence, and areas to focus on to get the perfect overview. The first time I had someone on the other end of the phone say, “this sounds like an amazing business and opportunity,” I was very happy and said, “I got it.”
What has been the most important part of your professional journey?
In my overall career, I think the most important and perhaps gratifying was being the second employee of a startup that, after growing for a year, we took public. When we rang the bell of the exchange to open the market— it was a whirlwind of emotions and a sense of accomplishment. It is the most important part of my journey because we set very aggressive goals, faced mountains of challenges, and wouldn’t let anyone tell us “No.” We not only took the company public but were the single best-performing stock on that exchange in that year. It proved that I could absolutely accomplish whatever I was determined to achieve.
What risks is your company facing?
The risks, I feel, are largely the unknown or very extended periods with depressed oil prices. The company has de-risked about everything in our control, which leaves things “out of our control” as the main risks. We cannot control pandemics, supply-demand economics, interest rates, or government/political initiatives. However, the good news is no one else can either. I am a believer that you focus on what you CAN control. Therefore, you are much more likely to overcome the most significant risks that you’re potentially unprepared for because you’ve built a sound organization by focusing on what is within your power.
What would you do with unlimited resources?
I would vertically integrate and aggregate. For instance, I would buy companies that we think do what we do well in the industry; I would drill our own projects; I would buy larger deals. Presuming the goal was to generate the highest total returns, we would need to put capital to work at a scale well beyond organically doing what we do today. That is an exciting “dream” because it now introduces high-level strategy and finance to say, “how do we deploy something at a scale that we never dreamed of.” I’d also make sure that the people that got us to that level had life-changing economic events to reflect the efforts that it took when it wasn’t “easy.”
When was the last time you totally lost yourself in doing something?
With respect to work, it was building the world’s most complex spreadsheet for prospective institutional investors. I hadn’t spent that much time knee-deep in excel since the early 2000s at an investment bank. After two days of staring at formulas, I realized I hadn’t done much else!
If the question were to be personal, it’s when I go deep-sea fishing—no cell phone, nothing on my mind, at peace.
What do you do when you’re not at work?
It’s all family all the time—3 kids, sports, hanging out, the rare vacation or day trip. We are a very close family, so all of my off hours are doing something with my wife and kids. The rare boys’ golf outing is also fun but happens less and less with the busy schedules of a 13-, 15-, and 18-year-old.
How do you feel you make a difference in the world?
Financially, I have made investors a lot of money by introducing them to opportunities that they wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Personally, I hope that the laughter and smiles that I strive to weave into most interactions improve people’s outlook, experiences, and stress levels. Working with people honestly and in a relaxing fashion in personal and corporate dealings creates positive outcomes. Has it made a difference in the world? I doubt it. However, if everyone did a little more in consideration of others, we probably collectively would.
