Backstage w/ Matt Stone

Matt bought bananas this morning, which got him thinking about 1876. But that’s just the warm-up. This week on Backstage Friday, Matt pulls back the curtain on one of the most consistent patterns he’s seeing with clients: the gap between AI-generated messaging and the real thing — and why the difference is less about the tool and more about what you feed it. Spoiler: deep broth beats instant every...

Matt’s been sitting on something — and this episode is where it comes out. A new offer, a handful of cities, and a concept called Untold Stories: the next evolution of The Bigger Stage is starting to take shape, and listeners are getting the first look before anyone else. In this week’s Backstage, Matt also gets into why writing a single LinkedIn post by hand felt like going to the gym, what a Sha...

It’s been a week — the kind that’s equal parts exhausting and exhilarating — and Matt is back Backstage to fill you in. He digs into a paradigm shift around LinkedIn and social media (turns out treating the feed like a room full of people beats posting and running), teases a Hollywood project bridging entertainment, business, and leadership development, and reflects on why holding up a mirror to s...

Thirty-eight days until summer, and welcome to Backstage’s new Friday cadence. Matt’s breaking in a new format like new shoes, seeing what works best. This week started with a networking event with trades owners in southeastern Pennsylvania—flooring, painting, roofing companies. The vibe: more competition, people getting more bids and hanging on longer, not pulling the trigger as quickly. General...

Title: 51, Grateful, and Balancing Confidence with Humility Subtitle: On birthday reflections, upcoming celebrity guests, structured interviews as the secret to books and courses, and showing up meaningfully Description: Forty-five days until summer, and Matt’s celebrating his birthday today—51 years old, grateful to be healthy with so many wonderful people in his life. He shares the same birth da...

After six months of daily episodes, Matt is making a change. This pod is shifting to a weekly Friday cadence — a backstage-style check-in built for summarizing the week’s learnings, previewing what’s next, and pulling listeners deeper into the journey. The daily format helped build the stage. Now the stage is set, and it’s a different game. In this midweek bonus, Matt also unveils Iconic Conversat...

Fifty-four days until summer, and Matt’s got a feeling they’re going straight from late winter into the Hades era of heat. Welcome to Backstage—he likes the art, hopes you do too, sticking with it for a while. After sharing trivia about the yellow fever vaccine (1932—back when vaccines were seen as positive), Charles de Gaulle resigning (1969), and A Chorus Line closing after 6,137 performances (1...

Fifty-eight days until summer, still chilly, and it feels like they’re going straight from late winter into summer with something brutal in between. Welcome to Backstage—the podcast is officially rebranded. Cadence still TBD, aspirationally five days a week but thinking three for consistency. Things are changing, lots more activity. Planning a very exclusive, very cool invite-only dinner concept,...

Title: 21 Years Since the First YouTube Video Subtitle: On burgeoning friendships, the ground shifting faster than ever, and bridging where technology meets human creativity Description: Fifty-nine days until summer, and Matt’s pondering frequency—maybe three days a week instead of five. Let him know what you think. Last night he had dinner with David Kalinowski (author of The Sacrifice Paradox ),...

Fifty degrees and chilly in NYC, and Matt went underdressed to last night’s fantastic networking event—froze afterward grabbing a slice with a friend, but good times. After sharing trivia about the first White House Easter egg roll (1878—still creepy with the bunny), Jacques Cousteau’s diving apparatus patent (1952), and the Blues Brothers’ first SNL appearance (1978), he dives into what’s shiftin...

Down to a lovely 77 degrees after almost 90 yesterday (65 days until summer), and Matt’s happy about it. Last night’s nonprofit event was packed with sweating professionals in jackets—met two women from Colombia working for a nonprofit, a writer, all kinds of interesting people. Not a community he’s heavily involved in, but he felt part of it instantly. Good for the soul. After sharing trivia abou...

Eighty-nine degrees in NYC today (66 days until summer but it already feels like it’s here), and Matt’s looking forward to almost 90-degree weather for now. After sharing trivia about Isaac Newton being knighted (1705), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Eureka (1899), and Annie Oakley hitting 100 clay targets in a row (1922), he dives into yesterday’s exhaustion—the kind he didn’t fully appreciate unt...

Happy tax day in America, 86 degrees in northern New Jersey, and Matt’s exhausted but inspired after standing up the new website for thebiggerstage.com yesterday. After sharing trivia about the American School for the Deaf (1817), the last day U.S. silver coins circulated in Canada (1870), and the Titanic actually sinking in the early morning hours of this day (1912), he dives into what happened i...

Mid-80s today (almost 90 the next two days), and Matt’s excited to be a little too warm after months of cold. After sharing trivia about Noah Webster’s dictionary (1828), cornflakes being patented (1896), and the Titanic hitting the iceberg (1912—124 years ago and people are still fascinated), he reflects on why that story resonates: we’re all on a boat together, and in the end, status didn’t matt...

Sixty-nine days until summer, still feeling winter-ish at night (upper 30s, lower 40s), but a glorious weekend—Saturday sitting in the sun on the Upper West Side talking with a friend, much warmer than expected. After sharing trivia about the Apollo 13 explosion (1970) and Barry Bonds hitting his 661st home run (2004), Matt dives into a moment that made him feel very old: recounting a story about...

Beautiful Friday, a little cold as usual, and Matt stopped mid-race to get centered before two podcast recordings—one with someone who just appeared on the Today Show for a clever electrical product (the kind you wish you’d invented), another with Jan Miller who stumbled into his current company 20 years ago after casually helping people with student loan issues on the side. After sharing trivia (...

Seventy-three days until summer, 34 degrees overnight (still freezing), but by Monday it’s hitting the 70s and 80s for good—so get ready for Matt complaining about the heat. After sharing trivia about King Henry I getting reprimanded for long hair (1105), LaSalle claiming Louisiana for France (1682), and Jumbo the circus elephant arriving in the U.S. (1882), he dives into yesterday’s 7:30 AM netwo...

Seventy-six days until summer, beautiful sunny day, though Wednesday night’s dropping below freezing one last time before hitting the 80s next week. After sharing trivia about Brigham Young marrying his 27th and last wife (1868—quite a responsibility) and Jimmy Dewar inventing the Twinkie (1930), Matt reflects on last week’s trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma—his first time in the state. He flew down to work...

Eighty-three days until summer, heading into the 70s today (upper 80s in Oklahoma where he’s flying tomorrow), and Matt’s making it quick before a client meeting. After sharing trivia about Washington proclaiming the boundary of the new capital city (1791) and Jeopardy’s TV debut (1964—didn’t realize it was that old), he reflects on a weekend that was productive but exhausting. Saturday hit the gy...

Title: Being the Best Dance Partner (So the Other Person Shines) Subtitle: On service over self-interest, curating stories that help people, and why good feedback makes you better Description: Eighty-six days until summer, high of 67 today (19 Celsius for everyone else), and Matt’s squeezing out as much spring as possible. After sharing trivia about the urinal patent (1866), the corkscrew patent (...

Eighty-seven days until summer, 73 degrees today (23 Celsius for the global crowd), and Matt’s feeling it. After sharing trivia about the UN Security Council’s first meeting in NYC (1946) and Jonas Salk announcing the polio vaccine (1953—though we’re apparently bringing back measles now), he touches on the absurdity of TSA chaos for his Tulsa trip next week before diving into what’s really on his...

Eighty-eight days until summer (a lucky number), and Matt’s cruising through March with his first live LinkedIn show launching in less than an hour— What’s the Point? with co-host Kait LeDonne. After sharing trivia about the first public pancake-making demonstration in NYC (1882—who knew?) and the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911), he reflects on last night’s mergers and acquisitions...

Thirty-two degrees when he woke up, heading to a ‘toasty’ 47 later, and Matt’s back after missing Monday—just off to the races. After sharing trivia about the NYC subway groundbreaking in 1900 (you can feel those 126 years) and someone surviving an 18,000-foot fall from a plane in 1944 (no parachute?), he dives into evolution and what’s changing with the show. The five-day-a-week frequency is gett...

First day of spring (though at 41 degrees you wouldn’t know it), and Matt’s reflecting on cherry blossoms in Japan—his first season in 1999 when he finally got the mysticism of that dramatic pink against dark bark. But here’s the thing: everyone builds them up all year, then they arrive and they’re over in a second. Like Christmas when you’re a kid. The moments we live for are merely moments—the r...

One day until spring, and New York is celebrating with freezing temperatures—aspirational at best. After sharing trivia about a $245,000 Citibank heist in 1831 (millions in today’s money), the first televised Academy Awards (1953), and Nicolae Ceaușescu becoming head of Romania’s Communist Party (1965—before his brutal fall), Matt dives into what’s on his mind today. He’s planning a new live show...