Bold and Brave Podcast by Vice Digital

This episode was originally recorded on Memorial Day weekend in 2022, back when Matthew Barnard and Upgrade Energy were just getting started. We had the chance to spend that Memorial Day weekend showing Matt around Charlotte, NC after meeting the year before during Memorial Day 2021 in Missouri, Matt’s home state. At the time, none of us realized how quickly life and business would move and take us. Both of us would spend the next several years fully consumed building startups, and this conversation would end up sitting in the vault until now — finally releasing four years later as Episode 1 of the Bold and Brave Podcast.Fast forward to May 2026, and Upgrade Energy has been acquired by Unusual Machines in a $52 million deal aimed at accelerating American-made drone and battery production. In this episode, Matt gives us an early glimpse into the mindset, hustle, and vision that helped fuel that growth, along with a few hard-earned lessons on building and scaling a startup. We’ll be bringing him back later this year for Part 2 to talk about life after the exit, what he learned from the journey, and what comes next for Matt and Unusual Machines.