I first heard about Max at an ASU pitch competition. Some folk were talking about this crazy founder who wanted to take on the current EV charging networks, and thought he was out of his mind. I was instantly intrigued. Anyone who gives people who are supposed to be evaluating early stage founders “out of his mind” vibes makes me always lean in.

His company is called BreatheEV, which works with properties to bring EV charging into their parking lots. It just so happens that I met Max a few months later at a Seedscout House that I was hosting. I am pretty sure he found out about Seedscout House through a group we were all a part of at the time called JamPad.

Max is pretty full on energy, like me, so we clicked pretty quickly. After he learned about Seedscout, he became a pretty early adopter of it and leaned in hard. He signed up for 25 intro requests per month, knowing that his college based network is not going to get him the access that he needs to raise capital from the coasts and build an enduring company with. Unlike many of the Seedscout paying customers, Max used me a lot! He asked questions. He kept me in the loop. He came to most of the Seedscout events I threw at the time. And we threw some fun ones.

Because he just kept showing up to events, I got to know him more, which allowed me to build conviction in him as a founder. This directly impacted his experience on Seedscout. There were two investors who he requested intros to on the platform that passed on him. But because we chatted a lot, I knew he reached out to them and I actually backchanneled to them telling them they should take the meeting, including Kenny Tucker and Eric Ries, who both ended up investing.

Outside of those two, Max broadened his network greatly which could massively benefit him in the future. He met active angels in New York, which is one of his primary markets. He met product veterans at Facebook turned investor. He met dozens of people who could turn into something valuable in the future. All in all, I think Max used Seedscout the best so far.

1. He was active on the platform

2. He showed up to events, met the crew, then joined the crew as a byproduct

3. Due to #1 and #2, we developed a relationship that allowed me to help him more than a standard customer I don’t have a connection to.

Don’t take it from me though, this is a direct quote from Max.

Max is an example of someone who saw the platform as the minimum, and then found other ways to get the most out of Seedscout. And it ended up working out for him. Through the investors he’s gotten, the connections he’s made, and the things he’s learned through osmosis, he is well on his way to building an enduring company. Seedscout will only take a small fraction of the credit, but once BreatheEV is a company everyone has heard of, I’ll take a lot of pride in that.