Matt Hayter

Matt Hayter’s entrepreneurial journey began in childhood, launching a club at primary school where friends paid a membership fee to race toy cars. By his teens, he was refurbishing computers to sell, combining technical curiosity with commercial instinct. But it was after convincing software firm Provoke to take him on as a graduate that he spotted a bigger opportunity – that the internal tools powering their consultancy had potential far beyond the business.

In 2016, he led a bold spinout, backed by Provoke, to co-found what would become Projectworks, a platform to free up professionals by automating resourcing, forecasting and reporting. Provoke was sold to a US-based private equity firm in 2019, and with Projectworks on the chopping block, Matt flew to the US and pitched a renewed vision directly to the PE firm’s founder, where he secured US$1m in seed funding to buy back and scale the business. 

Fast forward to 2025, Matt has carried Projectworks to raise a further $12m, boast an 85% gross margin, and is on track to reach 1,000 implementation partners by 2030. Designed to integrate with platforms like Xero, Salesforce, and HubSpot, Projectworks now supports clients tackling everything from hydrodams and housing to mental health clinics.

Matt’s impact as a founder is best seen through the difference Projectworks is making for its customers, who are experts solving real-world problems at scale. From environmental and energy sustainability, to advising on critical government social and financial policy, to supporting national child protection initiatives, Matt has enabled these professionals to reallocate resources from admin so they can focus on what really matters. 

Matt has since stepped aside as CEO to lead product development, maintaining his entrepreneurial vision and creating impact that scales beyond software.