Pivoting, funding and expansion - Matthew Hodgson, Co-founder & CEO of Element, Amandine Le Pape, Co-founder & COO of Element

Matthew Hodgson and Amandine Le Pape detail the thought process of creating a product that isn’t just another blueprint of messaging services like Slack and WhatsApp. With a clear goal and audience in mind, it took them by surprise the sudden pivot they made before even launching Element and how this has defined their niche in the messaging matrix market. Hodgson and Le Pape talk about the importance of funding when you don’t need money, as they found out the hard way when they became very near to calling bankruptcy on their business. On the flip side, Hodgson and Le Pape open up on the expansion of Element and why they chose to hire talent across 23 different countries, doubling the team from 60 to 120. They also explain how they came to acquire Gitter, a messaging service, through their associations with GitLab’s founder and how Element has gone on to raise over $48m in funding. Hodgson is also technical co-founder (and a Guardian) of The Matrix.org Foundation. Hodgson has been building communication solutions for well over a decade and has a BA in Computer Science and Physics from the University of Cambridge. He came up with the idea of Matrix with Le Pape in 2013 while they were running Amdocs’ Unified Communication unit. Together they created a new secure ecosystem that makes real-time-communication as universal and interoperable as email.  Le Pape is also co-founder (and a Guardian) of The Matrix.org Foundation, the open source project that publishes the Matrix open standard for secure, decentralised, real-time communication.  Le Pape leads operations across the entire company. With over 10 years’ experience in mobile services and telecommunications, Le Pape is an engineer that previously set up and led product management for the Unified Communications line of business within global communications company Amdocs. She has a degree in telecommunications engineering from Ecole Supérieure de Chimie, Physique et Electronique de Lyon as well as an EMBA from ESC Rennes.