Academics

Heard on Campus: Matt Brezina of Xobni, Sincerely

Matt Brezina, Class of 2003, right, talked about the Penn State Summer Founders Program, which he helped create with Smeal College of Business senior Eli Kariv (also pictured) during IST Startup Week 2015. Credit: Emilee Spokus / Penn StateCreative Commons

"If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re getting rejected every day, you hear a lot of ‘No.' It’s valuable to learn that in business, ‘No’ is often on the way to ‘Yes.’ Building a company is a roller coaster: You have the highest highs and the lowest lows. The way you get through that pain is to have passion for what you’re doing, because with that passion, nothing can stop you. Find people who share your passions and connect. Shared passions build lifelong bonds."

-- Matt Brezina, co-founder and CEO of Sincerely, a mobile gifting startup whose mission is to help the world be more thoughtful. The Sincerely network has more than 1.4 million members who have sent cards and gifts to over 900,000 homes. Sincerely was founded in 2011 and is backed by $3 million in venture capital. Brezina also co-founded Xobni, an email software company that makes your inbox and address book smarter. Xobni’s application for Microsoft Outlook, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times, was lauded “the next generation of social networking” by Bill Gates in 2008. Xobni has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications. Xobni was founded in 2006 and is backed by $40 million in venture capital.

Brezina is also an active angel investor, having invested in companies such as Dropbox, Voxer, Edison Jr., Rescale, 15Five and Orchestra. He graduated from Penn State in 2003 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering.

Brezina spoke April 15 about the Penn State Summer Founders Program, which he helped to create, during IST Startup Week, a week-long celebration showcasing talented innovators and entrepreneurs from around the country, including alumni from the College of Information Sciences and Technology and Penn State. Tune in to live streaming of events at http://startupweek.weebly.com/live-streams.html.

Last Updated April 20, 2015