Q&A with Mat Made Founder Kenny Kim
Mat Made is a jack-of-all-trades company in the Jiu-Jitsu landscape. What started as a potential TV series to tell Jiu-Jitsu stories has grown into so much more. They have continued to share inspiring success stories while creating the largest Jiu-Jitsu directory in the United States. We had the opportunity to meet with Founder Kenny Kim to discuss Mat Made’s rapid growth, the work that’s been put in, and their future goals.
Q: How did Mat Made start?
Mat Made was born out of my own personal story. I had a rough upbringing and the only thing that kept me in line was training. The success I’ve gotten through life is from the mats. I wanted to tell that story how you didn’t need to have a silver spoon in your mouth to be successful.
My goal was to inspire people – especially those who look like me, went through adolescence like me, and who didn’t have anything. I wanted people to see this guy that is a high school dropout, tattooed, went to jail, and show them that it is possible to be successful in life.
Q: What feedback have you received from the Jiu-Jitsu community about the work you do?
When we first put out the Docuseries and we put the short stories out, I would get crazy DMs. For example, I had a DM from a veteran that I still have in my phone. “I had a pistol in my hand and was suicidal and saw one of your stories. I will be Mat Made and start Jiu-Jitsu tomorrow.” Those are the types of messages I get: “Because of you I started Jiu-Jitsu.” “Because of the stories I see you telling, I’m going to become a better person.”
Obviously it costs a lot of money to produce these videos, but once we saw the feedback we knew it was a necessity to do this. It started as a project to inspire people, but became a mission.
Q: How do you find people to tell inspiring stories about Jiu-Jitsu?
I had a lot of followers so it was as easy as that. I would post, “I need a story, I’m looking for an interesting story.” And my email and DMs would be flooded with stories and we would go through them. All the stories were inspiring. We chose ones that we thought were very impactful. The first was a domestic violence story, the second one was about PTSD, the third one was about a 73-year old grandma training, another one was about the American dream…. It was stories that we thought someone out there could watch and go, “That could be me.” And since it was (intended for) TV, we had to make sure it was a story they could tell in front of the camera and tell it for TV.
Q: Where do you see Mat Made growing?
The day I said I’m writing my first book was three years ago. So, as a company, a brand, an idea, three years is pretty young. It usually takes a company a minimum of five, six, eight, 10 years before they can become a household name. Especially for us, we have done that. The name Mat Made actually has become not only synonymous to me, but it has become a sub-brand that people already notice.
So now on my Instagram and TikTok channels, I share not only techniques, but I share some wisdom. I share 25 years of my training experience with them – what to do, what not to do. Some of those things are always tied into Mat Made.
I hope in the next three to five years we’re going to be somewhere bigger. I hope we can sign a TV deal with a big network, which we were close to once. We are continuing to work on our directory, which is the largest in the United States. We have our drink, Tigerblood. I have another book coming out and more. Another upcoming activity is our Masterminds event, where we’ll help business owners improve to be successful and spread positivity from Jiu-Jitsu. We want to be one of the biggest brands in Jiu-Jitsu that isn’t just for uniforms or one thing.
In the end, we want Mat Made to be on the forefront of people’s mind. We want to be the place people go when they need something. We connect people together. We’re connecting the brands to students and schools to the brands. It’s a full circle that we want to be a part of.
Q: How do you balance all the different facets that Mat Made has?
I still teach full-time, I still have to be a dad, I still have to be a husband. I still have to run my school with over 300 students, but there’s that old saying – “When you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life.”
Q: Out of the stories that Mat Made has told, which have stood out to you the most?
There’s so many different stories on Matmade.com that are categorized in weight loss, stress, PTSD, etc. Every individual has a success story, but I think the biggest one is the boost of confidence, and to be able to get out of their comfort zones and try something brand new like Jiu-Jitsu, which is hard. Trying something new is hard to stick with. Everyone wants to quit.
So, for people to stick it out – one year, two years – become blue belts, black belts, and especially those in their 60s to become black belts after 10 years of training is impressive. Especially while younger people are making excuses. It’s the boost of confidence in having that never give up attitude. That’s a similarity in all the stories, no matter what their success story is.
That’s what parallels life. We run into bumps and bruises on the road. Life knocks us down. But what do we do? Most of us have to come right back up and get on our feet and continue moving. That’s exactly what these success stories are doing. Just continue to push forward and not give up.
Q: How have you kept your Jiu-Jitsu school database as current as possible?
We were the first one to scrape the information and form one of the largest directories. Now, we are in the process of training AI services to make phone calls to each and every gym on our database. If the information isn’t correct, they’ll actually go out and find it on Google, call them in real time, and have a real conversation. We did a test run and I was blown away.
We’re in the process of confirming all those schools and that their information is correct. Once that gets all done, people on the directory can make updates or add or delete information, they can always contact us and we’ll be able to get that done.
Q: What is the process going to be to verify a school on your website?
Right now we have a few schools verified on Mat Made. The verification process will be like this: We’ll be able to verify schools in a basic manner. You know, is this their website, phone number, address, etc. That’s the basic verification. If you want to get deeper into verification, it’ll be a paid service.
With the paid service, you can put whatever information you want on Mat Made: program information, pictures, videos, introductions, etc. And then you’ll become the top school within that city on Mat Made at the top of your geolocation section. The free version works well, but the paid service creates more exposure.
Q: How did you begin your Jiu-Jitsu journey and transition into Mat Made?
I have been in martial arts for all my life. When I was 20 years old, I opened up a Taekwondo Kickboxing school, and a buddy of mine wanted me to try Jiu-Jitsu. I got hooked and that’s where everything started. In the beginning I was young and stupid and just wanted to learn how to fight. As I got into the business side, the older I got, I realized the power Jiu-Jitsu has – how impactful it can be to transform people.
That’s how I transitioned to look at how Jiu-Jitsu is more than an art or a sport. I think a lot of martial arts are impactful, but Jiu-Jitsu is just on another grand scheme of things. It’s huge. And I wanted to be able to be the person that lays the bridge to connect people to Jiu-Jitsu.