Matthew Dunnerstick

Founder, Heroic

Matthew Dunnerstick has spent 15+ years building companies and platforms that sit between culture and technology. He started in financial technology at American Funds before moving into the work that guides his heart.

He runs Heroic, a creative and technical partner to arts organizations, institutions, and cultural brands, and the studio behind Signal (Instagram growth and analytics) and Serum (social account auditing). He co-founded ARSNL, the exclusive digital art platform for Artists Rights Society and its 120,000+ member artists, and invented Podspun, an AI-powered discovery platform recognized as a 2x Webby Honoree.

His work on social audience integrity grew out of years of running real Instagram growth for clients: seeing firsthand how fake followers, engagement pods, and bought audiences distort the numbers brands and creators rely on. Signal and Serum are the tools he wanted and couldn't find.

He advises founders, brands, and institutions on cultural positioning, narrative clarity, and how to stay relevant over time.

Born in Ohio. Based in Los Angeles.

Elsewhere

HeroicThe creative and technical studio Matthew founds and runs, and the team behind Signal and Serum.Personal siteMatthew's portfolio of companies, art, and writing across culture and technology.LinkedInProfessional background, work history, and a way to connect directly.

Articles by Matthew Dunnerstick

What's a Good Instagram Engagement Rate? (By Follower Size)A rigorous look at Instagram engagement rate: the two formulas that disagree, realistic benchmarks by follower tier, why the rate decays with scale, and how fake followers and the ranking system distort it.How to Find Out Who Unfollowed You on InstagramWhy Instagram hides unfollows by design, the only safe way to find out (your own data export), why password-based 'unfollow tracker' apps are a security and policy risk, and how to attribute unfollows to specific content.How to Export Your Instagram Data (Step by Step)A precise walkthrough of Instagram's Download Your Information export: the exact menu path, JSON vs HTML, what the followers/following files contain, the data-portability rights behind it, and how to turn raw files into analysis.How to Spot Fake Followers on Your Own AccountA three-layer method for detecting fake followers on your own Instagram: account-level fingerprints, follow-ratio anomalies, and the account-wide engagement math, with thresholds, the academic base rate, and why it matters for reach and deals.Why Did My Instagram Reach Drop? (Shadowban Myths vs Real Causes)A clear-eyed diagnosis of Instagram reach drops: what 'shadowban' actually denotes, how to test for it, and the real mechanisms, content variance, hashtag suppression, weak engagement signal, and format shifts, behind a decline.How Often Should You Actually Post on Instagram?What the data says about Instagram posting frequency, why the algorithm rewards per-post performance rather than volume, how format choice outweighs cadence, and how to find your own sustainable rate from your analytics.Organic Growth vs Bots vs Pods: What Actually WorksAn honest, mechanism-level comparison of Instagram growth methods, bots, engagement pods, follow/unfollow, and organic, including what each does to your ranking signal, your data integrity, and your standing in a brand audit.Every Instagram Growth Hack, Ranked by How Badly It BackfiresA reference teardown of the tactics growth tools sell, buying followers, follow/unfollow, pods, comment bots, giveaway loops, cheap ads, with the mechanism behind each, the policy and regulatory exposure, and the real cost.Are 'Real Growth' Instagram Services Actually Real?AI growth services promise real, targeted followers with no bots and a guarantee. Here's the mechanism behind the marketing, what the case studies omit, the policy and FTC context, and how to evaluate any service before paying.How to Read Your Instagram Analytics (What Each Number Means)Instagram analytics defined precisely: reach vs impressions vs accounts engaged, the two engagement-rate formulas, reach rate, the conversion funnel, watch time and retention, and which metrics actually predict growth.

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