About the Founder

Matt Stone, Founder & Editor of The Grounded

Matt Stone is a writer, veteran, and scholar whose work explores the collision of faith, power, and truth in modern life.
He founded Grounded in response to what he calls “the algorithmic age of illusion,” a time when everyone has a platform and no one has accountability.

Before creating Grounded, Stone served as an Army Ranger, worked in addiction recovery, managed an axe-throwing club, and earned advanced degrees in political science, international relations, and religion. His writing spans memoir, theology, and cultural criticism, weaving lived experience with philosophical inquiry.

The idea behind Grounded is simple: truth has to cost something.
Stone pays $100 for every verified factual inaccuracy in his work, a public commitment to accountability that’s rare in journalism and rarer still in commentary.

His essays and research have been described as raw, redemptive, and uncomfortably honest.
They question the stories we tell about power, identity, and belief, and what happens when those stories fall apart.

Today, Grounded operates as both a personal publication and an open platform for writers who share the same ethos: integrity over ideology, clarity over performance, and courage over comfort.

“Grounded exists because the truth deserves a home...even if it’s a small one.”