I stopped talking to startups on the topic of how to grow startups because of Max Marmer. When I first got the gist of startup science and its approach, I realized that every consultant and lecturer on effective, efficient startup validation and growth (myself included) were fundamentally flawed. We were sniffing at the source. Max was presenting the source. A year later, I got the itch to start a new company; we’ve been using Max’s startup science framework as the vehicle for strategic planning and execution, and we’ve even brought Max in as an advisor. Compared to how I approached and ran companies before, the experience has been night and day. I wish I knew Max when I started my first company over a decade ago. But Max would only have been entering his teenage years. 🙂
He is way ahead of his years in his knowledge and understanding of how to create change, his huge ambition is matched with a  healthy pragmatism. He is both catalyst and fuel. Start the engine!
– Tom Gruber, C0-Founder of Siri (2010)
On an age-to-intelligence ratio Max makes me feel both old and dumb. Pretty impressive. Max typifies the “too young to know it can’t be done and brilliant enough to see a better way.” I’d like an option on 10% of his future earnings. – Steve Blank, Serial Entrepreneur, Author of 4 Steps to the Epiphany & The Startup Owner’s Manual (2010)
I’m so grateful for your presence in my life. You’ve helped me in the darkest places and with your experience with darkness brought light to mine. You’ve literally informed how I see the world in beautiful ways.  I am the woman that I am in many ways thanks to the windows that you’ve opened — to understand myself and to understand the world. And you do it so kindly and with so much fire.
When we first met, Max told me in 3 sentences how he knew he was introverted and had  trouble relating to new people. But he said, I’m going to train myself to not be an introvert. And he studied all these things to become the extrovert that I was delighting in having a conversation with, and I was thinking, “Can that even happen? Can people train themselves to be different?” You opened a whole new window of personal development and true commitment to becoming your highest essence” – Mari Sierra, Experience Designer | Innovation Strategist | Mind-Body expert (2015)
Max is a visionary leader and I do not use those terms lightly. Although he is younger than me, I 
consider him a mentor. He sees the big picture when it comes business, philosophy, psychology, and life. He asks great questions and is an incredible strategist. He is able to skillfully transmit his brilliance and wisdom individuals and companies in ways that help them make positive shifts in their thinking and planning roadmaps. This often lead to major breakthroughs, which enable clients to reach new heights and explosive growth. He is also a wonderful person which makes working with him really enjoyable. I recommend him highly. – Molly Maloof MD, Physician, Technologist, & Scientific Wellness Pioneer (2015)
Max is an absolute rarity – he embodies a beautiful mix of razor sharp intelligence, deep empathy, mature wisdom, and a phenomenal work ethic. – Arjun Arora, Co-founder of Retargeter & Immediately (2015)
I teach cutting edge spirituality and metaphysics in trainings with spiritual students from over 10 countries.  I am in a unique position, as I have met so many spiritual aspirants and am an expert on personality typing, to endorse Max Marmer’s spectacular spiritual gifts. Max is one of the most spiritually gifted and advanced students I have ever met. His capacity to perceive highly sophisticated and advance spiritual metaphysics, principles, and that he actually lives by them, is truly extraordinary and extremely rare, all the more so for someone his age. Which means, he was just born this way. Added to that is that God apparently didn’t think that Max having enormous spiritual capacity was enough, so he also blessed him with a mind that is among the sharpest I have ever encountered. His capacity to understand systems from complex metaphysical models to personality typologies and to then add to them is staggering and a joy to experience. Few students half my age can keep up with me, and even fewer can add to what I teach, Max can do both.
I have been studying and been lucky enough to have had some of the world’s top spiritual masters as my mentors for 25 years. And, I can talk to Max about anything I have learned and find his comment perceptive, interesting, and often adding valuable additional insight. Max is one of those truly extremely rare and gifted individuals whose innate spiritual capacity is not just a big heart, but a mind and access to true higher guidance that make him the true full package. – David Fauvre, Co-Founder Enneagram Explorations (2015)
You don’t need eyes to see. You need vision.
 Max is one of the most visionary thinkers I know. He is is a modern day Renaissance man, a rising polymath. He has the rare ability to operate at the intersection of many emerging subjects and communicate his observations clearly and succinctly. Max is hitting on topics that are critical for our future – his thinking is shaping the zeitgeist of the communities in which he participates. He shares observations that hide in plain sight for most of society. There are many important lessons entrepreneurs and business leaders alike can learn from Max’s growing wisdom and experience. – Lucian Tarnowski, Founder & CEO BraveNew (2015)
Max is one of the most intelligent people I have worked with. He has an extraordinary ability to map out, think through and come up with highly complex systems. He also stands out with his ability to quickly and systematically explore, investigate and learn about new fields of knowledge. Max is highly ambitious, persistent and is not afraid to define and follow his own path in life. He has great domain expertise particularly with respect to the operational development of startups and personality systems such as Myers-Briggs, Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics.
One thing that I think Max has changed the most in me is how to look at the world. I think my brain got to new heights while working together with Max for awhile. It’s a continuous daily brain workout. Sometimes when I think back to those times where we worked very intensely together in our early days, I feel very dumb today. I’m very grateful for those brain workouts but more than that for how those times have taught me to think differently and see the world differently, to be a lot more thorough, to look beyond the shiny surface and try to understand what’s beyond that. I hope we will be able to build a lot more beautiful things in the future. – Bjoern Lasse Herrmann, CEO at Compass (2015)
I greatly value Max’s sensitivity and perspective. He possesses a rare combination of heart-forward receptivity, and clarity of vision. When I’m feeling clouded or confused about a decision, Max always helps me see things from an unemotional place, which is useful in discerning what’s most important. To say unemotional does not imply a lack of caring. His innate care is actually what makes me trust him enough to look together from an unbiased vantage point. – Brita Grothe, Life & Relationship Coach (2015)
Max is extremely smart and gifted in so many ways. He is a entrepreneur, philosopher, and hard worker. He has extraordinary drive, focus, ambition, and persistence. And he’s doing it all for the right reason–to help create a better world. – Ryan Allis, CEO at Hive.org, former CEO at iContact (2015)
In an era of narrow focus, where the urgent has displaced the important, those who try to see the biggest picture have never been more needed. Max is one of them — enlarging the canvas of our universe, clarifying the inter-connections between its parts, and revealing new possibilities of action with only a few broad strokes. His wide field of vision and relentless search for mastery, has taken him on a multi-disciplinary journey, of theory and practice, braving challenges that result in both enlightening insights and humbling defeats — a fate those who push hard enough to discover their true limits know all too well. Max is a rope tied between Icarus and Prometheus, a rope over an abyss; what is great in Max is that he is a bridge and not an end, that I’m honored to call my friend. – Alexandros Pagidas, Philosopher at Alexandros.is (2015)
I feel beyond lucky to have someone in my life who is as thoughtful (both inwardly and outwardly) as you. You my partner in crime, my copilot, and the yin to my yang. You have an unmatched way of giving me a calmer center and approaching situations with insightful reasoning. Your presence alone has helped me get through countless struggles. I am grateful that you exist and that you give my life so much meaning. Being both soft and strong is a combination very few have mastered – and to me, you are the embodiment of this junction.
Your brain (and its inner workings) is above and beyond anything I have ever seen, even when you aren’t at your peak your mind exceeds expectation. Your thirst to impact the world and the people around you is beautiful. I am so proud of you for blossoming into such a compassionate, thoughtful, and curious being. Look at the immensely strong bonds you have created by imparting your knowledge, the eyes you have widened by offering your wisdom, the hearts you have expanded by opening your heart. There are so many people who are in awe of your mind, body, and spirit. You inspire me to be a better, fuller person every day. And that is because you are full to the brim and bursting so many thoughts, ponderings, questions, senses, feelings, beliefs, and ideas. You have been this way since you were born. Always searching. It is because you a seeker of such enormous answers to the universe that you shoulder such a weight. You never just accept things and I am moved by that kind of tenacity in you. You push boundaries. But you are not afraid to openly shift your position when your opinion has been altered. Thank god people like you exist! There is something very special about the balance you have found between your pride and setting it aside when the time is right. You are one of the few good ones. You consistently restore my faith in humanity. I respect you, I admire you, I appreciate you, I adore you, I support you, and I love you more than anything quantifiable. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me into your weird, complex mind from time to time. All the chatter and all the gray matter inside of that brain of yours does in fact set you apart, but in the most beautiful way imaginable. – Zoe Marmer, Max’s Twin Sister (2015)
I love Max for so many reasons. When I’m with Max, I feel like he just gets me. I feel seen for who I am, and I know he accepts all of me. He is generous with his knowledge and frameworks, warm and loving. –Â Rebecca Jean, CEO at Rebecca Jean Catering (2015)
What you do for me and what you do for others, is open up this massive vista. When we share our experiences with you, you say “look at all of this” and it is this massive perspective opening experience. We’re like “oh, I didn’t know. I didn’t know the world was this way, until you showed me; with your mind, with your heart, with who you are.” Interacting with you is a deep well for me, that I know I can continue to come back to. A well that gives me strength and courage to lead in the ways I lead, and makes me a better person, everyday. Thank you.  – Mikyo Clark, CEO at the Stimulus Group (2015)
There are very few men I would have invited as a central figure to a women’s retreat. Maybe that wasn’t a smart idea but I think we all know it was. About two years ago in November I gathered a group of women, some of whom are here, who mean an extraordinary amount to me and it was kind of with a selfish desire to share some of the most important maps of the interior that I’d been privileged to understand myself: enneagram, spiral dynamics, David Deida — But Max was perfect… he showed us how all these maps work and how they combine. And I can’t tell you the courage that having you by my side has given me in my life, in my purpose, in the work I do at Connect. – Anima Sarah Lavoy, Co-Founder and CPO at Connect.com (2015)
“Every time I get to spend time with Max I’m impressed with his brilliant mind, he truly thinks ‘outside the box’. Max’s thoughts are always clear, relevant and rooted in deep knowledge. After knowing him for more than five years I’m still looking forward to every encounter always enjoying a stimulating exchange.” – Peter Baumann, Founder of the Baumann Foundation & Tangerine Dream (2015)
“Max is a force of nature. I feel that he was a catalyst in what has been and continues to be a deep healing process for me. His feedback is incisive and compassionate. For people in my age bracket who are undertaking deep work on themselves, he’s a leader.
Max was able to see me where I was at and where I was headed. As an artist, I have a big picture view with most of my life, something in which I take great pride. And yet as someone who also wants to be savvy in the minutiae of my work, Max was able to refine some of the details of my goals so that I could have a clearer roadmap to action, introducing me to certain habits and resources that would make me a more effective person in life in general.
Thanks, Max, for encouraging me to dream big and inspire me to love and heal myself first so that I can be free to give my artistic gifts to my community and at some point, a bigger audience.” – Aaron Kahn, Musician, Graduate Teaching Fellow at University of Oregon (2015)
I love that I always learn so much from you because you spend so much time focused on things that are always meaningful and I learn that from you every time we’re together. When we spoke about our health problems you were the first person in my entire life that had any idea what I was talking about: my road thru health and dying and not dying. That was a pivotal moment in my whole life — thank you for being in my life.
Brian Bugh, Systems Engineer, Programming Instructor, Leader (2015)
One of Max’s friends told him when he got older he would either be famous or homeless and it’s a sign of something much deeper and special about Max of someone who really owns who he is and owns his own uniqueness and own unique gift to the planet and to humanity and it takes a lot of courage and it’s difficult and it’s a quality that deeply inspires me in my own path to own who I am and to really meet the world from a place inside rather than to get met by the world on the outside, in all my interactions with Max there has been so much richness so much fun and so much spark but I think that element that you own so much as a human being as a soul is something that has been such a deep gift in my life and i just want to thank you for that – Chetan Nandakumar, Entrepreneur, Product Manager at Leap Motion (2015)
When I met you what I was tempted to pay attention to your brain, and recently what you have called attention to, by who you
are and who you have become, is your heart. I am struck by how kind you are, and not only how deep you see the world with your perception, but how strongly connected to it you are though all of your other senses. – Leah Hunter, Writer at Fast Company (2015)
One of the gifts that you’ve given me is really awakening me to the power of your generation, being 20 years older than you. I’ve been watching the world destroy itself, and you kindled a new hope, with me feeling “Wow we will be saved because here you are — and the likes of you exist”.-John Taylor, Entrepreneur & Personal and Executive Coach (2015)
“Max is a brilliant shining light in the revolution of new thinking. His thoughtful demeanor & deep presence offer a fertile ground for seeds innovation. Max has taught me, through example, this very subtle thing he does, where I ask a question and he has this tiny pause right before his answer, and that’s not something I’m doing a lot. In your Being, there is this invitation to slow down and for me to tap further and wider within myself before I chose what bring out, and really feel what wants to come out. I see you doing that every time we speak, and I’m so grateful for that invitation.
I’ve also felt a New World in my intuition, and I knew in my heart it was possible and then through talking to you I knew that it was. You’re doing the work, you’re bringing it out, you’re pulling the threads together and you’re creating a structure that people can walk upon and build upon where there was only ether before. I’m grateful for this, not only for me, but for you affirming things I feel are true for all of us.  – Rachael Webb, Spiritual Coach & Business Advisor at Soul Star Medicine (2015)
My first experience of Max was of a being who knew about surrender. And I would marvel. I would take him to the ICU with all these buzzers going off and he would just be so Zen. Or we would doze off in naps and I just really experienced him having this ability to surrender to the world. Max didn’t talk a lot as a teenager but then we’d have these deep conversations looking out at the night sky, and he felt a calling pretty young, that he really wanted to do something big. It was there when he was 14…I’m very proud. I admire how you’re living your life. And I continue to learn things from you as well and I’m very moved by not only you pursuing what’s interesting to you do in the world, but I see how important it is for you to bring people together, which is a value of mine.” – Peggeth Loeb, Max’s Mother (2015)
“I had the most interesting conversations at the Integral Theory Conference with Max by far…I haven’t felt that understood by a person in a long time. I sometimes have intellectual conversations with people who want information from me. But that’s not Max.” – Kevin Bowman, Integral Economist, Metatheorist, Professor (2015)
Max is a team player, and someone you can bet on to win. I”m looking forward to making the world a better, more connected place with him. – Rafe Furst, Entrepreneur, Investor, Co-founder at Crowdfunder.com (2015)
I admire Max Marmer: For his brazen vulnerability. For the way he embraces self-discipline for the sheer sport of it. For writing about and posting about any aspect of the human experience with no regard whatsoever for taboos. For the way he seizes whatever he’s interested in learning about or experiencing with gusto. For his analysis, and commentary which is thought-provoking and, seemingly without undue influence. For his seeming idea that he can excel at anything, any subject, without limitation. For being science-minded. For the particular way that he approaches spirituality. For the way he seems to internalize, integrate, and assimilate his constantly growing body of knowledge, into the art that is him, in immediate and seamless fashion. For the way he seems to be an “Edward Scissorhands pruner” of the art that is him. For knowing he is an organic process. For changing his mind unapologetically. For never fearing the dialogue. For being eager for the dialogue. For speaking his truth, which just so happens to always amaze me by it’s beauty. For his analytical style. For loving his sister and family and friends so passionately. For being one of the finest articulators of his thoughts that I know of. For doing swan dives into the fun. For his seeming lack of guilt. For seeming immune to what others try to put on him that is not his. For tearing up the dance floor. For saying that DJ’s are not brave enough. For posting the posts that are among the ones I look forward to the most.
I feel like you are a among a world-wide group of young people who are ushering in a new paradigm for our world. I see it as an embracing of what is rational and scientific with what is authentic and mindful. I see it as being infused with a spirituality that may be simply defined as “love”, and the knowledge that that kind of love is something HUGE. I see all of you as being the ones who are leading the way in changing our world — in teaching us to set the bar high, so we may live to see a more beautiful way come to be reality. You guys are the ones who offer others the red pill or the blue pill — but not as an exhortation to “wake up and smell the coffee”, but as open examples that inspire others to leap at the chance to embrace a BRAVE life as the finest and most rewarding thing that one might aspire to — something akin to the exhilaration of riding in the barrel of an awe-inspiring wave with skill, panache, and joy! What person with a BRAVE heart wouldn’t want to be part of that? There’s no deathbed disappointment when you’ve lived your life as a catalyst for that in the world! I sort of just dumped some big expectations — burdens — squarely upon your shoulders, didn’t I? Yes, that’s how much I believe in what you are doing and how much I long to see it our world. For what it’s worth, I believe in you SO much, Max. You are amazing! You are worthy to be entrusted with this power because you’re doing the work. I’m so grateful to have the gift of this peripheral view, where I get to see how you inspire so many people by your example of joyfully raising the bar. Go, Max, go! Namaste! – Cheryl Anderson Spensieri (2015)
“Max, you are wild and free and so “out there” it blows my mind…I’m awed by your willingness to lay yourself bare during your growth, with all the fits and starts that go with rapid growth. Sometimes your writing is strident, always it’s impassioned, often it’s over my head. But your journey allows me to see things with younger eyes, new perspective and I leave your posts with more neurons firing than before I started. Thanks for the steady stream of brain food and love.” – Florie Brizel, Global Evangelist for Mobilology (2015)
Max, you are by far one of the most intelligent and impressive people I have ever met. Period. I would say it’s rare that I meet someone that genuinely impresses me. Even rarer is meeting someone that I know I’ll be connected to for the rest of my life. And perhaps most rare is meeting someone you know without a shadow of doubt will go on to profoundly change the world. It is men like you who will define our future – we need to do whatever we can to support your efforts. I met Max when he was only 19, but it only took five minutes for me to realize he was all three. – Lion Isis (2010)
I’ve worked with Max for about six months now in a variety of areas surrounding entrepreneurship, education, startups, and software as part of the Steve Blank team. For a guy one-third my age, Max’s knowledge, energy, and tenacity are awe-inspiring. He has vision, the horsepower to translate that vision into products or concepts, and the passion to drive them forward. – Bob Dorf, Co-Author at The Startup Owner’s Manual (2010)
I’ve never in my career met someone so focused and singularly determined at achieving his goals. – Mike Nguyen, CEO at Silent Partner (2010)
From theory to practice, Max Marmer is a machine at getting things done (just ask him about his GTD practice).The depth of his knowledge is impressive, he’s a thought-leader, and that he’s only 20 is a bit mind-blowing. The mission that Max has embarked upon could very well change how entrepreneurs think in silicon valley all together. And his career is just starting. Max is going to shift the paradigm of how people see start-up innovation. – Travis Wallis (2010)
All of my mentors are older than me, save one. Max Marmer is a thought-leader, risk taker, and serious entrepreneur
bent on changing the world. He is mature, thoughtful, bold, and respectful.He is constantly learning, trying new things, and surrounding him with this right people. I’ve learned a lot from Max and am excited to see what he accomplishes
over the years. Having met, worked with, or reviewed business plans from hundreds of young innovators, I can say that Max is one of the best I have ever encountered. –Mike Del Ponte, CEO of Soma (2010)
Oh watch out world. Max is a rising star and going to conquer it! – Eric Kuhn, Marketing & Business Development at Layer3 TV, formerly United Talent Agency & CNN (2010)
Max is a rare prodigy in entrepreneurship. – Tyler Willis, Entrepreneur, Angel Investor (2010)
Max walked me through the labyrinth. His ideas were vast, confused, irreverent and terribly exciting… If people could be invested in outright I would invest in you. – Ze Frank, President of Buzzfeed Motion Pictures, Internet Personality (2009)
