Matt Calkins | $1B+

Billionaire

Dec 15

Get in touch with Matt Calkins | Matthew Calkins, founder and CEO of Appian, built one of the most enduring low-code software companies by betting early on automation, workflow, and enterprise speed. Launching Appian in 1999, Calkins steered the company through multiple technology cycles, positioning it as a core platform for digital transformation across government and large enterprises. Under his leadership, Appian went public in 2017 and became a recognized leader in low-code development and process automation. Known for his long-term vision, intellectual rigor, and independent thinking, Calkins has maintained founder control while shaping how organizations build and deploy software at scale.

Matt Calkins is the co-founder, CEO, chairman, and president of Appian Corporation, and a world champion board gamer.[1][2][3][4]

Early life and career

Calkins grew up in Mill Valley, California.[1] He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1994 with a degree in economics.[1][3] He then joined MicroStrategy, a business software vendor[1] where he was the director of the Enterprise Product Group.[5] When he was 26, he left MicroStrategy and co-founded Appian.[5]

In 1999, Calkins co-founded Appian and began building software tools such as an intranet portal for the U.S. Army.[1] In 2008, the company raised $8 million, and in 2014, raised $36 million in a secondary offering led by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.[1] Appian later went public in May 2017.[1][6][7] As of 2019, Calkins owns just under half of the company which is valued at $2.1 billion.[1][8][9] Calkins believes there are different dimensions of AI.[10][11]

Appian

Calkins left MicroStrategy in 1999 in order to launch Appian Corporation.[1][2] He was 26 years old.[2][1] Appian creates low-code software that helps businesses build apps more quickly.[1][2][3] It is used by government agencies including the United States Food and Drug Administration, and private companies such as T-Mobile, Bayer, and Exelon Corp.[12] The company went public in 2017 and Calkins owns just under half of it.[1]

Board gamer

Calkins is well known for designing board games and playing competitively.[13] He has collected 1,000 games,[13] and has won a number of events at the World Boardgaming Championships.[1][2][14][15] His philosophy is that business and gaming have a lot of similarities: business skills can make someone a better game player, and playing games helps to make him a better CEO.[13][16]

Calkins created the board games Sekigahara, Tin Goose, Charioteer, and Magnet.[1][2][17]

Sekigahara: players recreate the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara in Japan[1][2]
Tin Goose: players build one of the first commercial airlines[1][2]
Charioteer: a strategic racing game set in ancient Rome[18]
Magnet: an “abstract game where players try to get their king to the middle of the board” [8] (runner-up for Games Magazine's Abstract Game of the Year, 2010[13])

Calkins has contributed to The New York Times about the value of board games in business.[19]

Other involvement

In 2017, Calkins was named to the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) board of directors.[20] He also serves on the leadership council of the Virginia Public Access Project and the board of the Sorensen Institute.[21] He was previously on the board for the NVTC TechPAC.[20] Calkins was named to the 2022 Virginia 500: Federal Contractors - Technology.[22]

Political views

Calkins is a supporter of Elon Musk's involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency, but has criticized its implementation, saying: "it wasn’t nearly as much as we needed, and we probably didn’t need the chain saw. We needed the chisel."[23]

War against Ukraine

Calkins helped the Renew Democracy Initiative to create fight4ukraine.com, a website that tracks the world's response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.[24] This initiative included banning the sale of software to Russia.[

Disclaimer: This profile is based on publicly available information. No endorsement or affiliation is implied.

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Matthew Calkins, founder and CEO of Appian, built one of the most enduring low-code software companies by betting early on automation, workflow, and enterprise speed. Launching Appian in 1999, Calkins steered the company through multiple technology cycles, positioning it as a core platform for digital transformation across government and large enterprises. Under his leadership, Appian went public in 2017 and became a recognized leader in low-code development and process automation. Known for his long-term vision, intellectual rigor, and independent thinking, Calkins has maintained founder control while shaping how organizations build and deploy software at scale.

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Matt Calkins | $1B+

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