Jan. 28, 2026
Contact: Sara Diedrich, diedrichs@missouri.edu
Their science-driven startup wasn’t supposed to end at the breakfast table. But when Clint Matthews, BS ’05, MBA ’12, and Kyle Rood, BS BE ’11, MS ’15, learned about a University of Missouri study on the benefits of a high-protein breakfast, they saw an opportunity.
As Mizzou student-athletes — Matthews in football and Rood in cross country — they had eaten more than their fair share of protein bars and shakes. Convenient? Yes. Enjoyable? Not so much.
What if breakfast could deliver protein and satisfaction?
That question sparked Start Right Foods. A decade later, their waffle sliders aren’t just a clever concept — they’re a frozen-aisle favorite, winning over customers and landing in nearly 1,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Not bad for two entrepreneurs who began with a pocketful of seed money, a rent-by-the-hour kitchen, three waffle irons and a pickup truck making deliveries to a couple of local grocery stores in Columbia, Missouri. Today, the co-founders employ six full- and part-time workers who help crank out between 7,000 and 8,000 breakfast sandwiches a day from an impressive 5,000-square-foot facility in Manchester, Missouri, near St. Louis.
Their goal is continued growth — and becoming a household name in breakfast food.
Start Right emerged on the heels of two less successful entrepreneurial ventures in the biomedical device space, setbacks that only strengthened the business partners’ resolve.
“We’ve grown steadily over the years and weathered more than our share of challenges,” Matthews said. “The grit I gained as a Division I athlete — persistence and resilience — and my education at Mizzou have been among my greatest assets. Kyle and I don’t quit. We keep fighting through every obstacle that comes our way.”
Good hustle
Matthews traces his innovative drive and tenacious spirit back to his parents. Both were entrepreneurs: His father ran a construction company, while his mother ran a wallpapering business.
“I’ve always been a bit of a hustler,” he said. “Starting at about age 9, instead of going to a babysitter during the summer, I went to work with my dad.”
But instead of getting paid in cash, Matthews and his dad struck a different deal. Using monetary gifts and savings, the young entrepreneur bought three steers, and in return for his labor, his dad paid him in feed.
Living on six acres in Ozark, Missouri, Matthews was responsible for feeding, watering and caring for the animals. When he took them to market, he kept the proceeds. After the first trio of steers was sold, the arrangement had more than paid for itself. Matthews was making a profit.
“I saved every dollar,” he said. “It taught me responsibility early. As I got older, I took on more side jobs, like mowing lawns.”
When it came time for college, Matthews — an all-district linebacker at Ozark High School — applied that same initiative by walking on to the Mizzou football team. Though he had offers from smaller colleges, he wanted the challenge of competing at the Division I level. Under the tutelage of Head Coach Gary Pinkel, Matthews emerged as a team leader and four-year letterman.
For Matthews, college athletics aligned naturally with his goal-oriented, persistent nature.
“Football was essentially a full-time job in college, yet I still made time for school and the other things that mattered to me,” he said. “That experience taught me how to manage my time, set clear goals and follow through on them. Being a college athlete ultimately made me a self-starter and prepared me to succeed in the real world.”
More than a side gig
While Matthews excelled as a leader in athletics at Mizzou, he also embraced the university’s signature hands-on learning experiences. He arrived with dreams of becoming a television meteorologist, treating his entrepreneurial projects as side pursuits. By his senior year, however, his true ambition had become clear: a career in business. When his football career ended, he stayed an extra semester to earn a minor in business.
After graduating, Matthews accepted a buyer/ inside sales job at Boone County Lumber in Columbia, where his outgoing personality and strong work ethic quickly won over management. When the housing bubble burst in 2008, Matthews — always an innovator — proposed a strategy to help the business stay afloat: selling supplies online.
“Things had slowed down dramatically,” Matthews said. “But instead of waiting around, I started looking for new opportunities.”
His idea proved so successful that the company eventually built a custom website and expanded its online sales. The experience was also eye-opening for Matthews. He realized he could do more than work in business; he could run his own.
Wanting to sharpen his skills before taking an entrepreneurial risk, Mathews knew exactly where to go for the experiential learning he sought in a graduate program — Mizzou and the Crosby MBA program at the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business.
“I continued working part time and kept growing the company’s online business, further confirming that business was what I wanted to do,” he said.
Mizzou connections
Matthews found what he was looking for in the Allen Angel Capital Education (AACE) Program at Trulaske, a then-new initiative in which Mizzou students function as real-world investors, backing high-growth startup companies. Since its inception, the student-run fund has grown to manage about $700,000 in assets, invested across more than a dozen portfolio companies. For Matthews, the program proved invaluable, particularly his mentorship with late founder and adjunct professor W.D Allen, who died in 2024.
“W.D was really good at helping students find a way to make things work,” Matthews said.
Through AACE, Matthews built a network of investors, including Gene Gerke of Gerke & Associates in Columbia, and co-founder and co-president of Centennial Investors, an angel group funding startups. Those connections would later be instrumental when Gerke recognized the potential of Matthews’ high-protein breakfast idea and provided the seed funding to launch Start Right.
Another pivotal experience came in 2012, when Matthews became a BioDesign Business Fellow in the BioDesign and Innovation Program at Mizzou’s School of Medicine. The year-long program immersed him in clinical settings, challenging him to identify health care needs, design solutions and craft business plans to bring new technologies to market. Paired with a doctor and a biomedical engineer — Rood, at the time a recent bioengineering graduate pursuing a master’s degree — Matthews quickly discovered a strong collaborative spark with Rood, which was strengthened by their shared experience as Mizzou student-athletes.
After the program, the two soon-to-be-entrepreneurs forged a lasting friendship and a shared determination to pursue entrepreneurial ventures.
“The connections I’ve made through Mizzou have made all the difference,” Matthews said.
Lessons learned
Over the years, Matthews has remained in touch with many of his Mizzou connections, taking to heart the lessons he’s learned along the way — chief among them, the importance of finding a business partner whose strengths complement your own.
“If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you can’t be great at everything,” he said. “You need a business partner who is the yin to your yang.”
Matthews also understands that success doesn’t come without mistakes. The key, he says, is learning from them and staying nimble — a lesson drummed home by his Mizzou mentors.
“Persistence and problem-solving are non-negotiable traits,” he said. “No one is coming to save you. If it’s going to get done, it’s on you. You’ve chosen to build something of your own, so you have to fully embrace that responsibility.”
