An exclusive Scaling Remote interview with Moody Mattan, Executive Chairman at BrandXR, exploring how a product-driven founder scaled immersive tech from a bold idea to real-world impact while navigating shifting markets, AI disruption, and the future of interactive experiences.

With a career that blends creative engineering, startup resilience, and a deep understanding of where digital experiences are heading, Moody brings a perspective that’s equal parts practical and visionary. In this conversation, he opens up about the lessons behind building category-defining technology, why founders must adapt faster than ever, and the mindset that turns emerging tech into sustainable business momentum.

“Bringing the Physical World to Life”: How BrandXR Turns Surfaces Into Experiences

When Moody Mattan describes BrandXR’s work, you can almost feel the 2D world peel open.

BrandXR is best known for augmented reality billboards and murals, physical ads that spring to life when scanned through a phone. A 3D scene erupts. Objects animate. Messages transform into interactive experiences that users can explore, record, and instantly share.

Brands like Verizon have used these experiences to activate storefronts, turning static walls into playful, immersive installations that pull people in rather than passively speaking at them.

Beyond marketing, AR becomes a practical superpower.
Why haul a car into a dealership parking lot when you can summon one into your own driveway? Why imagine a product when you can place it in your space?

For many people encountering these experiences, Moody says, the reaction is pure magic because it’s the first time the physical and digital world blends in front of their eyes.

The Spark: Why Moody Built BrandXR

Before founding BrandXR, Moody worked in venture capital, where he evaluated an early AR headset startup out of Y Combinator. That moment changed everything.

The early promise of AR/VR hooked him so much so that he went on to build one of the early Google-Cardboard-style VR headsets, branded for campaigns and powered entirely by a smartphone.

He built the business site himself on Shopify, no code, no engineering background, no excuses.
Millions in sales later, the impact of no-code hit him hard.

If people could build functional products without being engineers, why couldn’t they build AR and VR the same way?

That question formed the seeds of BrandXR:
a company built on simplifying the most complex technologies in the world.

Scaling XR With Small, Mighty, AI-Powered Teams

Building XR products isn’t easy – not yet.
It still requires a multidisciplinary team: 3D modelers, animators, Unity/Unreal engineers, UX designers, and storytellers.

But BrandXR has managed to stay lean without slowing down.

Their approach?
• Outsourcing talent strategically
• Using AI to 10x individual capability
• Hiring “one-person powerhouses” who own their craft end-to-end

The company recently faced a difficult turning point, cutting half the team while staying profitable. But by adopting AI deeply into internal workflows and leveraging global talent, they achieved the same revenue with fewer people.

For Moody, this wasn’t a setback; it was a lesson in operational clarity:
AI doesn’t replace teams, it amplifies the right ones.

Why Creating AR Content Is Still Hard (and Why That’s About to Change)

Despite AI breakthroughs, XR content creation remains challenging.
Image generation and code generation may be easy today, but building a polished AR or VR experience requires much more logic, physics, interaction, artistry, and emotion.

Moody believes AI-assisted XR development is coming, but we’re not there yet.

However, the shift is visible:
Teams experimenting with AI internally are already more open to experimenting with AR and VR. And that mindset shift is opening the door to something bigger…

The Next Big Consumer Device: AR Glasses

If smartphones defined the last 15 years, Moody believes AR glasses will define the next 15.

The early signals are unmistakable:
• Meta Ray-Ban glasses
• Partnerships with Oakley
• Google teaming up with Warby Parker
• Consumer adoption rising faster than expected

Moody sees AR glasses as “the device after the smartphone,” not a companion, but a replacement.

When the world becomes your screen, brands will finally reach consumers where their eyes already are.
For BrandXR, this means opportunity on an unprecedented scale.
For users, it means an ambient, screen-less world where information blends seamlessly into reality.

Culture: How BrandXR Attracts Talented Builders

Ask Moody how he hires, and the answer is refreshingly simple:
Give people work they genuinely love.

BrandXR’s team builds AR experiences for massive platforms Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, and sometimes for the NBA, where millions of people interact with their filters.

For many on the team, that’s not a job; it’s a dream.
They are gamers, inventors, digital artists, people who get to create what they once only admired.

Moody’s role?
“Bring in the fun projects.”

The formula works.

No-Code XR: The Future Creator Platform

With AI accelerating experimentation, Moody believes more teams will want to build AR/VR experiences internally, even without expert-level knowledge.

This is where BrandXR’s vision for a scalable, no-code XR platform becomes transformational.

As AR glasses hit mass adoption, demand for content will explode.
Everyone will want to build.
Not everyone will have the talent.

A no-code XR builder solves that gap, and the companies preparing early will be the ones leading the next wave.

Surviving Challenges, Becoming Profitable, and Scaling Smarter

One of BrandXR’s most defining moments was choosing sustainability over speed.

Instead of raising more capital, the company restructured, automated, outsourced, and re-focused.
The result?
A profitable, efficient, globally distributed team capable of producing high-impact work at scale.

It’s a rare story in the XR world and one that positions BrandXR for long-term resilience in an industry racing toward its breakout moment.

Closing Thoughts

Moody Mattan stands at a fascinating intersection:
XR is still evolving, AI is accelerating faster than anyone expected, and AR glasses are inching toward mass adoption.
BrandXR sits right at the center of that momentum with the experience, technology, and creative firepower to shape what comes next.

As companies navigating these same transformations scale their teams, CloudHire enables global access to world-class talent, helping innovative organizations build quietly, efficiently, and without the friction of traditional hiring.

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