Serial entrepreneur Matt Watson completes strategic buy-out of Full Scale

A prominent, twice-exited Kansas City entrepreneur has acquired full control of a company he co-founded five years ago — with plans to expand its leadership team and grow its employee count from 300 to 500 in 2025.

Matt Watson announced Monday the completion of a strategic buyout of his co-founder, Matt DeCoursey, at Kansas City, Kansas-based Full Scale.

Matt DeCoursey, Full Scale

Matt Watson, Full Scale

Watson — a serial entrepreneur known best as the co-founder and CTO of VinSolutions, which was sold to Cox Automotive in 2011 for $150 million — brings a wealth of experience and a strategic vision to Full Scale, the company said in a press release.

As the new CEO, he is poised to lead the company into its next growth phase, leveraging his expertise to solidify Full Scale’s position in the competitive software development landscape.

“Let’s be honest, I don’t do any of the work at Full Scale,” Watson said, emphasizing the role of a strong management team that runs day-to-day operations at the company. “Our 300 employees do all the work. My job is to just find more cool companies for them to work with.”

“I do that via our podcast, content marketing, etc.,” he continued. “Over the last year I have grown my LinkedIn following to 30,000, started a blog, and am working on a book. My job is to tell everyone how amazing our team is and how to make offshore development work. We have proven is works very well.”

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Full Scale, a leading software development agency, has been at the forefront of solving the tech talent shortage by matching software developers from the Philippines with growing tech companies, representatives from Full Scale said in a release. 

The partnership between Watson and DeCoursey initially launched to help their companies, Stackify and Gigabook, hire talented software developers. Full Scale was quickly noticed by local companies in Kansas City and Full Scale hired 100 developers in its first 12 months to help service their needs.

The company’s growth over the past five years has seen it land on the Inc 5000 in 2022 and in 2023.

Full Scale’s buyout represents a significant milestone in the company’s trajectory and highlights Watson’s commitment to steering it toward new heights, he said.

“I’m happy for DeCoursey. This is what every founder works for, the big exit!” said Watson. “I’m grateful for the invaluable collaboration with Matt over the years. As CEO, DeCoursey built an incredible eight-figure business over the last five years. As the company embarks on this exciting journey, I eagerly anticipate steering Full Scale toward even greater achievements. My engineering background will help us continue to hire and train world class developers while delivering exceptional value to our clients.” 

Meg Stapleton and Matt Watson, At Capacity; photo courtesy of Matt Watson

Earlier this year, Watson also co-founded At Capacity — a smart advertising platform geared toward small business owners who offer home services like plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work.

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“At Capacity is up to 15 employees and doing great,” Watson said, noting he will continue to also provide leadership around the business and the technology development. “Full Scale does most all of the development work. Being that the companies work 14 time zones apart, there are plenty of hours in the day!”

Full Scale specializes in helping small- to medium-sized tech companies augment their existing staff with software developers from the Philippines. By leveraging that talent, companies can save up to 70 percent on the costs of hiring software engineers, according to Full Scale. 

With headquarters in Kansas City, Kansas, and in Cebu City, Philippines, the company is known for its ability to recruit and retain top engineering talent in the Philippines.