When Canadian creator and athlete Matt Kiatipis first picked up a Fisher-Price basketball hoop as a baby, he could hardly have imagined that years later, his love for the game would lead him around the world, not as a traditional pro athlete, but as the architect of a new sporting format rooted in creativity, community, and digital storytelling.

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Today, Matt is known for transforming one-on-one basketball, “ISO,” as he calls it, into a global phenomenon blending sport, culture, and creator entrepreneurship. Through viral clips filmed anywhere from Toronto to São Paulo and Athens, he’s garnering an audience of millions on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook, and a business that spans merchandise, training programs, and a forthcoming book. But the journey began in a far more conventional place … a gym.

From Prep School to Pro Play

Born in Toronto, Matt was a competitive athlete from the start. “When I was probably seven months, I think I started walking,” he laughs. “My mom and dad got me the Fisher-Price net. I was standing and dunking.” 

His early years were consumed by sport: basketball, soccer, and track. That passion earned him a prep-school spot in North Carolina, where he faced future NBA players, including Chicago Bulls guard Coby White.

After securing a Division II basketball scholarship at Simon Fraser University, Matt found himself sitting on the bench more often than he played. He transferred to another school in Georgia in search of more playing time, only for the pandemic to shut down the season. “During that time … getting sent home, I was like, man, I want just to go do something,” he recalls. “I found an opening in Costa Rica. They had a pro league going on.”

At just 21, he signed his first professional contract there, following an unconventional path for a Canadian college player. But even as he excelled, a new idea began forming.

Discovering the Power of the Camera

Back in Toronto, Matt watched a longtime friend, YouTuber K Showtime [Kevon Watt], draw massive online audiences filming pickup games. “He was absolutely my good buddy,” Matt says. “We have played AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) together since we were eight. I saw him getting so many views just from playing in the streets, and I thought, ‘Why don’t I do that?’”

Not long after that, a video of Matt dunking over an opponent went viral, and the impact was immediate. “One hundred thousand followers in a day,” he says. “Drake followed and messaged me. I was like, ‘Okay. This is how it works now.’”

That moment marked the start of his career as a creator. “My character was polarizing enough, fun enough, exciting enough to allow me to capitalize on it later on,” he explains. His videos showcased not just athleticism but personality. This fusion of competition and performance captured audiences across cultures.

The Birth of ISO

Matt quickly recognized that the fast, raw, and intimate one-on-one format had universal appeal. “You boil it down to history,” he says. “All of the most exciting sports like wrestling, boxing, MMA, it’s one versus one. Everyone loves that.”

What began as street matches turned into a structured project: ISO, a league built around individual competition. 

“Anytime it’s a one versus one, whether it’s on a date, in a boxing ring, or in basketball, that isolation between you and someone else is important,” he explains. “It can’t just be me. Some of these guys are just like me; they’re not going to take the traditional 5v5 (five-on-five basketball) route and go pro. Opening up that area where anyone can come challenge each other in my one-on-one league ISO… it gives them an opportunity.”

Matt says that several players discovered through ISO have since received professional offers. “It’s led to a lot of these guys getting pro contracts elsewhere,” he says. “I want to give people the opportunity the same way I blew up, helping them do the exact same thing.”

Behind ISO is a tightly knit family structure that mirrors its grassroots energy. “My brother travels with me; he films the videos,” Matt says. “We send that to my father, who edits the video, and then my sister will post it.”

The simplicity of that system inspired the broader business. “If it’s that easy, how can we emulate that into a brand for others?” he asks. ISO became not just a league, but a growing ecosystem complete with apparel, digital training programs, and soon, a global broadcast presence.

Building a Brand Through Culture

For Matt, travel is central to ISO’s philosophy. He and his brother approach each location as both athletes and cultural students. “When you shake hands off the court, you’re embracing their culture,” he says. “In Brazil, I’d say trash talk in Portuguese, ‘senta lá,’ meaning sit over there, and after, they’d take me to eat local food.”

Matt has expanded ISO into a lifestyle brand through limited-edition capsule collections—country-themed merchandise drops that fuse basketball culture with global art and mythology. Each capsule collection draws on the countries he visits (Greece, Brazil, Italy) and blends mythology and sport. 

“If we go to Greece, you see the Greece line – it’s got Alexander the Great, Perseus, Atlas holding the world basketball,” he says. “Another one is Brazil: Christ the Redeemer, with the saying ‘Senta lá.’ It’s about connecting culture and sport.”

Matt is deeply involved in the creative process. “Me and my brother literally just get a piece of paper, write down what happened, sketch it out, send it to our designer, and then choose the colors,” he says. “We formulate the designs ourselves.”

Training, Mentorship, and a Book of Lessons

Before ISO took off, Matt launched his first product: a jump-training program. “I dropped out of school and said, ‘Number one, I need to make money,’” he says. “We made the whole program a hundred dollars for lifetime access.” What began as a side project has become a suite of athletic and mental-training courses used by thousands of fans.

His upcoming book will tie those lessons together. “It’s a collection of my experiences, lessons, things in culture, language, learning, diagrams from everywhere,” he says. “If I don’t go to school, I have to learn some way, right? It’s kind of like your degree in life through the art of sport, business, and everything else.”

The message, he says, is universal: “Helping you navigate life and finding your passion and purpose. My passion is inspiring others through basketball. What’s someone else’s passion, and how can they do it through something?”

Scaling Up Without Losing the Human Touch

For all the digital success, Matt insists the most rewarding part remains personal connection. “I’ll stay at my events hours after to take a picture with every single person,” he says. “It takes longer because I don’t just take a picture and say next. I ask for their name and how they’re doing. Some come up and say, ‘Hey, I did your program.’ I feel their energy, and I give it back.”

He still recalls moments that grounded him: “We were on the [NBA] Hoopbus in England, stopped at a gas station, and this kid was fishing nearby. We invited him over, he caught the ball instead of a fish, and he walked in and saw me sitting there. We sat down and talked. It was so natural.”

That extends to ISO’s growing team. “You have to build a team that’s just as inspired as you,” he says. “Everyone who we bring onto our team, they’re considered a boss. I consider myself the janitor of my business. I can clean the rooms, do my laundry, edit the video, post the video. That’s what we teach anyone else. If you understand the purpose and have the same purpose, you’re a boss.”

A Global Tour and a Bigger Vision Ahead

After recent events drew crowds of thousands, Matt is expanding ISO into a true global franchise. “We did a street basketball event. Over 7,000 people came to the point where we couldn’t play,” he says. “Everywhere in the world, even if they don’t think they like basketball, one-on-one basketball is exciting. People love it.”

In the coming year, he plans to complete the European leg of the tour before moving through the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. “We’re going to bring it to places that haven’t gotten the opportunity to see this,” he says.

He’s also in talks with traditional media partners. “We’re working on some big projects in the traditional television route with the Netflixes or Amazon Primes of the world,” he hints. “So that when my grandma or my uncle is watching, they start to love basketball again. We’re bringing in new fans, new cultures, all through a sport.”

The long-term vision, he shares, reaches beyond basketball. “ISO will be the greatest, biggest sports IP franchise to be born. Because no one’s done one-on-one basketball like this.”

Respect Over Ego

Even as his brand grows, Matt remains grounded in the values that carried him from prep school gyms to global courts. “Something as simple as walking in ordinary life keeps me motivated,” he says. “Taking the train, eating local food, meeting people. I’m not a celebrity. I just like to be human in the right, loving, joyful way.”

If there’s one message he hopes young fans remember, it’s this: “Respect moves mountains. Ego gets you buried. Respect on the court, in business, in school, will move those problems out of your way. Ego will bury you.”

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