In his University time, Max met his Internet-Godfather at an event in Vienna/Austria in 2008. His Internet Godfather started (and shortly after successfully sold) the largest German-speaking social network platform. Max was so inspired by him on stage: smart, driven, humble and a creator who challenged conventional thinking and how to do and run a business. Right at the event Max asked him what he has to do so he can learn from him and his answer: “work with me“. This was the start of a decade-long partner/mentorship – a decade of ‘Grandescunt Aucta Labore’. Referencing Max’s alma mater, it means “by hard work, everything grows and increases“.
He got Max into entrepreneurship (right out of university) invested in his first business DailyDeal (which got acquired by Google Inc after 22 months of launching), coached Max to follow his passion/dream (and not be stuck with a Tech Corporate for the next couple of years), invited him to manage his tech portfolio in South-East Asia (SEA). And thanks to him, Max literally jumped on a plane in 2011 to manage his eCommerce portfolio without knowing where most of these exotic countries are exactly located on the map. And Max’s first trip to SEA was to Vietnam in 2011. He still has his lucky 100,000 VND note on his desk as a constant reminder for this experience.
