S1E29 A Candid Conversation on Life, Leadership, and the Stories Behind a Global CEO with Chad Mattix
This episode of The Wired Garage with Pops features Chad Mattix, founder and CEO of Kinnetix, an IT field services company supporting customers around the world. Chad shares how an entrepreneurial childhood, a paper route, and early exposure to ham radio and custom PC building with his father set the foundation for his career in technology and business. He walks through, starting his first company as a Miami University junior, scaling through law firms and regional clients, navigating tough economic cycles, and learning to balance risk, integrity, and perseverance as a leader. The conversation also explores the human side of entrepreneurship—marriage, family, grief, faith, friendship, travel, cigars, bourbon, and shared rituals that keep him grounded while leading teams across multiple cultures and countries.

Keywords: leadership, entrepreneurship, personal growth, mentorship, family, technology, business challenges, networking, resilience, life lessons
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SEO-friendly keywords: The Wired Garage with Pops podcast, ​Chad Mattix interview, Kinnetix IT field services, Entrepreneurial leadership story, Building a values-driven company, Leading teams across cultures, Handling failure as a founder, Perseverance and resilience in business, Work–life balance for entrepreneurs, Mentors and role models in tech, Miami University entrepreneurship story, Law firm technology and WordPerfect history, Family fatherhood and legacy, Faith and returning to church, Cigars and bourbon conversations, Travel, F1, and bucket-list experiences
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Key Takeaways

• Failure as an efficient teacher
• Chad reframes failure as an “efficient” way to learn, especially when you strip out emotion, ask whether the idea was structured wrong, and iterate quickly instead of getting stuck.
• Many people let one big failure become their permanent stopping point; disrupting that narrative is essential to keep growing.

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