About the Author

Chris Mattos has spent four decades thinking carefully about how capable people carry responsibility over time—and what allows some of them to do it without quietly losing what matters most.

He is Group Finance Director of i6 Group, a technology business operating across three jurisdictions, and has navigated the company through a Series A, a period of sustained pressure during the aviation shutdown, a Venture Debt round, and an eventual Series B. Alongside this, he works as fractional Group Finance Director at Firestarter Business Solutions, a business growth consultancy—giving him a continuing connection to the practical realities of scaling businesses.

Before i6, he built and sold his own tax practice, served as Editor-in-Chief of Tax Adviser magazine for five years, and held board-level roles across small businesses, international ventures and non-profit organisations.

The Checkmate Strategy is his account of the pattern he recognised across that journey—four disciplines that allow leaders to win well, decide clearly, and endure without being diminished by what they are carrying.

He writes and speaks about strategy, judgment and endurance for founders, leaders and senior professionals who intend to stay in the game.