Matt Wilkerson

Matt Wilkerson is the Founder and CEO of Extern, a platform building the infrastructure for real, verified work experience in an AI-first labor market. Extern pioneered the modern externship model, enabling students, graduates, and career switchers to complete company led projects that generate trusted proof of work for hiring and career mobility. Under Matt’s leadership, Extern has served 70,000 externs across 127 countries and operated hundreds of externship programs on behalf of companies such as Amazon, Pfizer, Canva, TikTok, PwC, Home Depot, Beats by Dre (Apple), Epic Games, Macquarie, HP, BeReal, Expedia, National Geographic and more. Extern is now leveraging AI-driven workflows to scale the management, feedback, and assessment of real work experience, dramatically reducing operational overhead while improving outcomes. In 2026, Extern is expanding into higher education and workforce partnerships to support scalable work-integrated learning and institutional adoption. Matt is a 3x founder with deep experience across marketplaces, consumer technology, and workforce innovation. Prior to Extern, he co-founded AHAlife, a curated global luxury goods marketplace that raised over $20M in venture capital and was acquired on the ASX. Earlier in his career, Matt worked in media and technology investment banking at Morgan Stanley and in venture capital at Technology Crossover Ventures, a $10B fund focused on growth stage technology companies. Matt holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science & Engineering and Management Science from MIT. He is a frequent speaker on the future of education, work, and hiring, and his work has been featured at global education and workforce conferences across the U.S., Asia, and Australia.