RSE Ventures

Matt Higgins is the Co-Founder and CEO of private investment firm RSE Ventures. Matt would rise to prominence across politics, sports, education, and television. At 26, he became New York City’s youngest mayoral press secretary, navigating the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He later served as Chief Operating Officer of the agency tasked with rebuilding the World Trade Center and creating its memorial.

After a decade of leading business operations for the New York Jets and serving as Vice Chairman of the Miami Dolphins, Matt followed in his entrepreneurial grandfather’s footsteps. He co-founded RSE Ventures with Stephen M. Ross, America’s largest developer, creating a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of beloved brands like Magnolia Bakery and Momofuku. 

Today, Matt is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, where he co-teaches the acclaimed “Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer” course. A recurring Shark on the Emmy-winning Shark Tank, he made history as the first to appear in both the U.S. and Dubai editions of the show. His debut book, Burn the Boats, became a Wall Street Journal bestseller in 2023. For his societal contributions, Matt also received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, joining luminaries such as seven U.S. presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

Matt traces his lineage to County Leitrim native Charles M. Higgins, a self-taught Irish immigrant who invented Higgins Ink in 1880. A century later, with the family fortune long squandered, Matt began selling flowers as a boy on the street corners of Queens. At 16, he dropped out of high school to care for his disabled mother, setting the stage for one of America’s most remarkable modern rags-to-riches stories.