Matt Brooks [Humanoids of Huntsville]

Matt Brooks created Four Hours to Product, a CoWorking Night workshop that promotes rapid product development, with a simple yet powerful idea: Team up with someone who’s not like you. “It’s my philosophy now—you need to find people that complement you,” Matt says. “If you’re an engineer, find someone that’s good at business, good at marketing, maybe a UI designer. You’ll come up with better ideas, you’ll work on the stuff that matters, and you’re more likely to succeed.”

Matt recently took second place at ExpeditionHacks for a drone-based project, and he continues to support the local startup community by organizing sponsored hackathons. His advice for his fellow innovators from around Huntsville? “Test the market as early as possible and see if you can find people willing to buy your product,” Matt says. “I haven’t had a problem going to companies with a prototype and getting feedback or (getting) help with a problem.”