Matt Clifford

Clifford holds degrees from the University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a university in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. It gives 1209 as its founding date, is made up of Schools, Faculties, Departments and autonomous Colleges, and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry and MIT. He then worked as a consultant at McKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & Company is a management consulting firm headquartered in New York, United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey and, after Marvin Bower established its “professional service” principles, grew into one of the largest pure consulting firms in the world; as of October 2026 it has more than 100 offices in over 50 countries and about 40,000 employees. It has also repeatedly faced regulatory investigations and public criticism over episodes such as its work with Enron, a former leader’s insider trading case, and its consulting for opioid manufacturers.Open the full entry, which he called a “formative experience,” though he felt it was too far from the “real action.”⁠[1]

In 2011, at age 25, Clifford co-founded Entrepreneur First (EF), a talent-focused investor that helps founders build companies from scratch. His personal website describes EF as a holding company valued at $1.3 billion.⁠[1][2]

On December 1, 2015, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) released the episode “a16z Podcast: Building Tech Startups in a Place Where Tech Isn’t Everything” as part of its U.K. road trip series. Clifford appeared as co-founder of the London-based accelerator Entrepreneur First, alongside Songkick co-founder Michelle You and Lifecake co-founder and former Skype engineer Nick Babaian.⁠[3]

The episode examined London’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: the episode page noted that “London is not the center of the universe when it comes to technology,” but that the city’s diversity of industries and thinking offers advantages for starting a tech company, and it explored what it takes to build flourishing startup communities. It was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[3][4]

In 2016 Clifford was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).⁠[2]

On August 3, 2018, a16z published the video “10 Years Too Early: On a Tech Career, Business, and Investing,” based on an event with Entrepreneur First. Clifford, as EF co-founder, hosted a conversation with a16z’s Frank Chen, with Bart Dessaint also taking part; the video runs about 46 minutes.⁠[5][6]

The conversation followed Frank Chen’s career as it tracked shifts in the tech industry “from on-premise software to cloud and SaaS” and “from mobile first to AI first,” and touched on managing founder personalities, machine learning, and the rise of the developer.⁠[5]

In 2022 Clifford was named founding chair of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), then an £800 million body; his personal website describes ARIA as a £1.4 billion R&D funder.⁠[1][2]

In 2023, as the Prime Minister’s Representative, Clifford led the preparations and negotiations for the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, and he led the design of the UK Frontier AI Taskforce, which later became the AI Security Institute.⁠[2]

The same year he stepped down as CEO of EF after 12 years, remaining its chair.⁠[1]

In 2024 Clifford wrote the UK’s AI Action Plan and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). When the plan was announced in 2025, the government said it would implement all 50 of its recommendations.⁠[2][1]

From January 2025 Clifford served as the Prime Minister’s adviser on AI opportunities, a role he held until summer 2025.⁠[1][2]

Clifford leads international affairs at Anthropic, working with governments on managing the transition to powerful AI, and serves as non-executive chair of EF.⁠[2]

He co-founded Code First Girls, an organization teaching women to code, with Alice Bentinck and sits on its board, as well as on the boards of the Kennedy Memorial Trust and Accurx. He was named to Time’s AI100 list.⁠[2][1]

From 2018 to 2022 he wrote the newsletter Thoughts in Between.⁠[2]

Personal website: https://www.matthewclifford.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

X: Public account: https://x.com/matthewclifford (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcliffordef/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]