About Max

Hi, I'm Max Stern! It's nice to meet. I'm a Lecturer at Duke University, where I teach courses for student founders and work 1:1 with 125+ entrepreneurs across all stages and industries. I also support programs for founders (like Duke's accelerator, Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs), and in 2024, my co-led course was recognized as "The Favorite Course of MBAs" by Poets&Quants. Before teaching, I was a founder. I built Closure, a funeral industry software company, and bootstrapped it to 25 employees and a $48MM exit after 5 years. I also launched a series of service-based businesses (ghostwriting, ESG auditing, chef-services and more) (backed by YC, Techstars, and misc. angels) through a venture-studio model. What makes my coaching different: – I know the pain of building something important and have seen/lived through every challenge imaginable. I've also made every mistake you can think of and can help you learn faster. – I bring perspectives from real builders (my experiences building and advising currently-operating founders) and leading educators (the latest insights from my colleagues at Fuqua, Duke's Business School). – You get frameworks that actually work in practice. – You get insights from my relationships across the venture ecosystem and will know what investors want to see. Who I work with: – First-time founders who "have an idea, but don't know what to do next." – Early-stage founders (pre-seed to seed, <$10MM raised) on pitch narrative, GTM strategy, and fundraising mechanics – AI-native founders on positioning, moat, and what people actually care about beyond "we use LLMs" – "Aspiring Entrepreneurs" (MBAs, operators) who want a defined path to "doing their own thing."