Matt Starolis is an engineer, educator, and writer who makes the hidden architecture inside complex systems legible—from machines and markets to minds.
PRESS / FOR PRODUCERS AND EDITORSAUSTIN, TEXAS
Everything you need to book me.
Bios sized for show notes and on-air reads, a headshot, angles with questions you can use as written, and the logistics. For anything else, email matt@starol.is.
BASE
AUSTIN, TEXAS · CENTRAL TIME
NOTICE
48 HOURS REMOTE · ONE WEEK WITH TRAVEL
SETUP
DEDICATED PODCAST MIC · 4K CAMERA · HARDWIRED CONNECTION · QUIET DEDICATED ROOM
FORMATS
REMOTE PODCAST + VIDEO · IN PERSON (AUSTIN) · WRITTEN Q&A · PANELS
Matt Starolis is an engineer, educator, and writer. He studied computer architecture under Yale Patt at UT Austin, passed all three levels of the CFA Program on the first attempt, founded a registered investment adviser, and served at director level at Microsoft. He now runs Engineering Confidence and writes at starol.is.
Matt Starolis is an engineer, educator, and writer. He studied computer architecture under Yale Patt at UT Austin and contributed to the second edition of Introduction to Computing Systems, passed all three levels of the CFA Program on the first attempt, founded a registered investment adviser, served at the director level at Microsoft, and has spent 3,000+ hours in one-to-one mentorship and craft analysis. He runs Engineering Confidence, a private mentorship practice for gifted and twice-exceptional students, and writes at starol.is about machines, markets, and minds.
HEADSHOT / USAGE
Current as of 2026. Crop as needed; no filters or restyling. Credential note for any introduction: Matt passed all three levels of the CFA Program on his first attempt. He is not a CFA charterholder and does not claim the CFA designation.
Three ways in.
AI agents inside a real school
What shipping four agent systems for real students taught him about architecture with consequences.
- You shipped four agent systems into a live school environment. What breaks first when an AI agent meets real students?
- Privacy constraints shaped your architecture. What does “safe by design” mean when the users are children?
- What did deploying agents with real failure consequences teach you that no benchmark could?
Teaching gifted and 2e kids to think
Risk, confidence, and recovery—how high-ability minds actually learn to proceed without borrowed certainty.
- You say confidence is engineered, not praised into existence. What does that look like in practice?
- What do the smartest kids you've worked with get wrong about risk?
- After 3,000+ hours one-to-one, what actually predicts whether a gifted student thrives?
The interface is English
What commanding software in natural language changes for educators, and for everyone downstream of them.
- You argue software engineering is “no longer the priesthood.” Who holds commanding power now that the interface is English?
- If anyone can command software in natural language, what is the new scarce skill?
- What should educators change tomorrow if the intent-to-bits ratio has exploded?