Matt
Stauffer.
Founder of Tighten, author of Laravel: Up & Running, and host of three podcasts—while proudly teaching and coding (mostly Laravel) alongside some of the best devs alive.
About Matt
Matt Stauffer is the founder and CEO of Tighten, a web development consultancy specializing in Laravel. He's the author of Laravel: Up & Running (O'Reilly) and hosts three podcasts on Laravel, business, and pragmatic AI. He speaks at conferences worldwide and writes at mattstauffer.com.
Matt Stauffer is the founder and CEO of Tighten, a Chicago-based web development consultancy recognized for building some of the most polished Laravel and web applications in the industry. Under Matt's leadership, Tighten has partnered with startups, scale-ups, and enterprises to ship products that are fast, maintainable, and a joy to work on.
He is the author of Laravel: Up & Running (O'Reilly Media), now in its third edition — the definitive reference covering every major release of the framework. Matt hosts The Laravel Podcast, the official podcast of the Laravel framework; The Business of Laravel, where he interviews founders building on the ecosystem; and Pragmatic AI, a show on using AI tools without the hype.
Matt is a frequent conference speaker and Laracasts instructor, and has spent the last decade helping developers level up their craft. He lives in Atlanta with his family.
Talks & topics
Laravel & PHP Development at Scale
Building maintainable Laravel applications that survive contact with real teams, real deadlines, and real growth.
Running a Consultancy
Lessons from 12+ years leading Tighten — hiring, client work, culture, and building a durable services business.
Pragmatic AI for Developers
How working developers and teams can actually use AI tools today — beyond the hype and the doom.
The Modern PHP Ecosystem
Where Laravel fits in the broader PHP world, and why PHP is having its best decade yet.
Technical Writing That Ships
What it takes to write a technical book, keep it current across framework versions, and help readers actually learn.
Community & the Laravel World
The ecosystem, its people, and what makes Laravel's community one of the healthiest in open source.
Podcasts & shows
The Laravel Podcast
The official podcast of the Laravel framework. Interviews with Laravel's creators and the people shaping its future.
The Business of Laravel
Conversations with founders and leaders building companies on top of the Laravel ecosystem.
Pragmatic AI
Real talk about using AI tools in software teams — what works, what doesn't, and what's worth your time.
Book
Laravel: Up & Running
A Framework for Building Modern PHP Apps · O'Reilly Media
The definitive reference to the Laravel framework — covering every major feature from routing and Eloquent to queues, testing, and deployment. Used by teams at companies of every size to onboard developers and ship production Laravel apps. Now in its third edition, continually updated as the framework evolves.
Companies & projects
We build and rescue web apps and dev teams.
In today's climate, the success of your business hinges on the quality of your software. Tighten's expert Laravel developers build and consult on the world's best web and mobile apps, helping our clients solve hard problems and achieve incredible results.
mattstauffer.com
Matt's home on the web — long-form articles, conference talks, videos, and a newsletter on Laravel, business, and modern web development.
