Matt MacDougall owns Rocket Web (@rocketweb), an award-winning Magento Solution partner and is the Founder and CEO of Xtension Galaxy (@xtensiongalaxy). Xtension Galaxy is a marketplace that provides its users with what they need to discover, test and purchase Magento extensions.
Within our interview with Matt, we got a sense of what his work life and personal life entail. He keeps a healthy work/life balance, with some help from his kids, by keeping the two separate even while working from home. Matt goes into detail on his thoughts of the future of Magento, how he would spend his time if money was no object and much more!
Can you describe what you really do at work?
I do a little bit of everything. If I touch the code though, I get yelled at.
If money was no object, what would you spend your days doing?
I’d putter around the house doing random stuff for a few weeks. Hopefully I’d get better on the piano/keyboard. And then, inevitably, I’d come up with some crazy web project to build.
In your spare time what do you get up to, and how do you balance this with your workload?
We just bought a new house north of Indianapolis, so my spare time is devoted to home improvement and family. I work from home most of the time now. The kids have been good about staying out of the office during working hours. Fortunately I’ve been able to stay out of the office outside of business hours.
How do you see the future evolving for Magento and the eCommerce space in general?
The potential of Magento standing on its own again is exciting. I’m also excited to see what becomes of OroCommerce for B2B. B2B is an exciting space to break into with a slick open source product. Both Magento and Oro are making strides in this direction. I anticipate an exciting future.
What is usually your last thought before falling asleep?
Yes, the cat is inside.
Who is your role model, and why?
I look up to qualities in a bunch of different folks. Professionally, I appreciate anyone who contributes to open source, particularly the one person shops where time is more valuable. I look up to my wife who manages our three kids every day. If I had to do it I’d probably end up building cages after the first couple weeks.
Whats the worst thing you have to do as part of your job role?
Fire someone.
What motivates you?
Insecurity. I think it’s an important quality of an entrepreneur, never feeling that things are good enough.
What is the most played song on your MP3 player or phone?
Ugh, it looks like iTunes is aggregating plays across devices now, Take You to Rio by Ester Dean. And now it’s in my head. Great. Thanks.
Would you like to plug anything?
xtensiongalaxy.com is our marketplace where you can test out and buy extensions from nearly any version of Magento, both Community and Enterprise. We also have versions of Nucleus from the Nucleus Commerce guys, and in the future, if it makes sense we can pretty easily add other platforms and extensions like OroCommerce.