Teaching & Practicing Entrepreneurship in New York City and Durham, NC.
Teaching & Practicing Entrepreneurship in New York City and Durham, NC.
GET THE LATEST
Closure: From Idea to Exit
Duke I&E
Nov 7, 2025
The Favorite Course of MBAs
Poets & Quants
Sept 13, 2024
Teaching & Faculty Profile
Scholars @ Duke
Use AI to Redesign
Critical Business Systems
MEET MAX
Max Stern is an educator, operator, and entrepreneur. He is also a Lecturing Fellow at Duke University and the former Founder and CEO of Closure Software.In 2017, Max founded Closure Software, a funeral industry software company that made it easy to file notifications of death online. He bootstrapped the business to $8M ARR and 25 full-time employees before its acquisition in 2022.In 2023, Max joined the faculty at Duke University as a Lecturing Fellow in Innovation & Entrepreneurship. He teaches courses for student founders across all stages and industries, and in 2024 was named "The Favorite Course of MBAs" by Poets&Quants.Max lives in New York City and continues to teach at Duke (via long commute).
PROOF OF WORK
PROOF OF WORK / COURSES AT DUKE
Max is a Lecturing Fellow in Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Duke University. He teaches accelerator-like courses for student entrepreneurs across every stage and industry.Spring 2026 Courses: New Ventures: DevelopPrevious Courses: New Ventures: Discover, New Ventures: Develop, New Ventures: Deliver, Special Topics: Customer Validation, Special Topics: Ideas into Action, Full Faculty Profile.
WORK DOMAINS
My work typically spans 3 domains: teaching, advising, operating, and program management.
Formats typically include some combination of 1:1 sessions, team workshops, and asynchronous audits.
Deliverables typically include breakthrough solutions to specific business challenges, the direct implementation of technical systems, and an aligned team prepared to tackle similar problems in the future.
LET'S ENGAGE
I work with startup founders and teams in one of three ways: as a teacher, as an advisor, or as a fractional operator.
Engagements typically include some combination of 1:1 sessions, team workshops, and asynchronous audits.
Deliverables typically include breakthrough solutions to specific business challenges, the direct implementation of technical systems, and an aligned team prepared to tackle similar problems in the future.
Email [email protected] to work together.
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