# Ross Borden

> Ross Borden is the co-founder and CEO of Matador Network, a travel media company established with Ben Polansky in 2006. A longtime adventure traveler and published travel writer, he has expanded the business into creator partnerships, original video and GuideGeek, its conversational AI travel-planning platform, and hosts CREATOR: The Podcast.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Matador Network
- **Organizations:** Matador Network, GuideGeek
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Co-founded and bootstrapped Matador Network, initially with $11,000., Led Matador’s expansion from travel publishing into GuideGeek., Matador appeared on Fast Company’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies list.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2006** — Traveled extensively and worked selling database software before founding Matador.
- **2006** — Co-founded Matador Network with Ben Polansky.
- **2009** — Matador introduced its travel-writing education program, MatadorU.
- **2015** — Discussed Matador’s locally informed, human-centered video storytelling in an interview.
- **2023** — Matador launched GuideGeek, a conversational AI travel assistant.
- **2024** — Matador was recognized by Fast Company and ranked No. 3,572 on the Inc. 5000.
- **2025** — GuideGeek won Best Use of AI at the Skift IDEA Awards; Borden wrote about custom AI for travel brands in Inc.
- **2026** — GuideGeek announced a Ripe lodging-data integration and powered Visit Baltimore’s new Chessie assistant.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and bootstrapped Matador Network, initially with $11,000.
- Led Matador’s expansion from travel publishing into GuideGeek.
- Matador appeared on Fast Company’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies list.
- Matador ranked No. 3,572 on the 2024 Inc. 5000.
- GuideGeek won Best Use of AI at the 2025 Skift IDEA Awards.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Borden interviewed Josh Platillero, known as Mega American, on CREATOR: The Podcast.
- **2026-07** — Visit Baltimore launched Chessie, a GuideGeek-powered travel assistant; Borden commented on personalized destination discovery.
- **2026-04** — Ripe and GuideGeek announced an integration for live lodging inventory, rates and availability.
- **2025-09** — GuideGeek’s press account reported that its CEO received the 2025 Skift Best Use of AI award at Skift Global Forum.

## Links

- Website: https://matadornetwork.com/author/ross-borden/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-borden-a11a1910
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rossborden/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ross-borden
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-13