Farm kid from the Cotswolds. Philosophy grad. Five years at Microsoft. Still can't believe they let me near the keyboard.
I'm Matt. I grew up in the Cotswolds on proper farming stock (wellies, muddy Land Rovers, the lot) then took a sharp left turn into philosophy at Exeter University, and an even sharper one into tech. These days I live in New Zealand and work at Microsoft, where I spend my time talking to customers about AI and trying to be useful.
The day job.
I've been at Microsoft for five years. I work on strategic partnerships and digital transformation , which is a slightly fancy way of saying I help big customers figure out what AI can actually do for them, versus what the conference-circuit hype says it does. It's a great seat. You learn quickly that the interesting problems aren't the models, they're the plumbing, the change management, and the org politics around both.
The upskilling project.
I'm AI-102 certified (Azure AI Engineer Associate) and working towards more Azure depth, because if I'm going to spend my days talking about this stuff, I want to actually understand how it's built. I code mostly in Python. Beginner-to-intermediate, if I'm being honest. I ship things anyway. That's the whole point of this site, build in public, write what I learn, let the receipts do the talking.
Before Microsoft.
I've been a founder more than once. The most visible one is Vitable - personalised vitamin subscriptions out of Australia. Before and around that I've had a few other entrepreneurial swings. Some worked, some didn't, all of them taught me more than any textbook. Running a company teaches you, very quickly, the difference between a good idea and a shippable one.
How to reach me.
Email's the fastest: matt@matthitchman.com. Or find me on LinkedIn. I read every message. I reply to most.
Currently
Microsoft · 5 years · Strategic partnerships and digital transformation.
Based in
New Zealand. Raised in the Cotswolds, England. Farming stock.
Studied
Philosophy at the University of Exeter. Turns out "what is a thing?" is excellent training for enterprise software.
Azure certifications
AI-102 · Azure AI Engineer Associate. More in flight.
Also done
Serial founder. Most recent: Vitable, personalised vitamins out of Australia.
Current stack
Python · Claude · MCP · Azure · Cloudflare · A lot of markdown.
What I don't do
Thought-leadership takes. "Synergies." Pretending I know things I don't.