Spotlight Interview: Scientist and Technology Entrepreneur Maxim Silaev

1. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me! Please tell us a bit about yourself and what you do currently…

Hi, nice to meet you! To start with, I am a scientist, businessman, researcher with over 20 years of experience and I am also a technology entrepreneur with unique practice of building great technical products and running businesses at the same time.
I passionate in technology and technology passionates me. I wrote my first computer program when I was 8 and since then have run a numerous amount of successful ideas, startups and products.
Although my interests are in deep intersection of blockchain, artificial intelligence, behaviour psychology and quantum computing industries, I am open to ideas from everywhere and passionate of making right steps both tactically and strategically.
I blueprint financial tools and perform financial modelling.

2. What inspired you to start doing your own business venture?

My business activity has a very long track record, it started over two decades ago, when I was a software engineer with a passion to research and building tools for everyday business use. Soon I found myself surrounded with business people, who are making business decisions. That was challenging – taking into account all my developer experience, I needed to combine a business approach with constant looking for the best technical solution and act appropriately. So, my journey as a businessman started very suddenly and I got used to combine both taking business decisions and technical, and I love it in that kind.

3. What has been your biggest achievement so far?

I have several things I built and am proud of – an investment adviser, which runs a strategy with a Sharpe ratio 2.7 to 5, financial modelling is my passion, I can speak about it for a very long time… The another thing is SmartView platform, which recognises and tracks customer behaviour in a store floor and then gives individual offers in real time, based of customer classification… There are heaps of other things and useful services I launched – all are designed to make this world a bit better.
But the most valuable thing I achieved is that I lived in 6 countries so far and traveled across other 70… Despite of being a workaholic, I really enjoy traveling, when it helps me to breath a fresh air somewhere at a new location, charges me to work hard to achieve great things.

4. What fuels you to keeps you going each day?

Although there is no specific type of “fuel”, I prefer preparing a plan for every single day I approach and make a detailed analysis if something goes wrong. I prefer to avoid mistakes from occurring twice.

5. Who are the top 3 celebrities/experts you’d love to work with? And why?

I do not start with celebrities, instead, I try to grow them in my team. Therefore, I do not intend to attract someone to work with.

6. Take a moment to close your eyes. Where do you see yourself in 5 year’s time?

I am going to write a book about modelling of human behaviour. That was my dream for a long time. So highly likely I will be writing it!

7. Can you give our readers 2 key tips for success in business?

The first one – do what you love. The passion is a key to success. Find something you love and be ready to dive into.

The second one – is never give up. Once you got an idea – validate it, change it and you will definitely find your market.

Obstacles you see are your friends, not enemies. As my judo teacher told me once – if something would be easy, everyone will achieve that.

Build a plan and follow it step-by-step every day. It is much better to make a small step every day rather than not to move at all.

8. If you were stuck on a desert island and could only bring 3 things what would they be?

Ha. I will pick something from my home, something to keep the memory. Memories are essential for me – often only they help me to achieve success.

9. How do you describe yourself in 5 words?

Researcher, Businessman, Traveler, Father and Live lover

10. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me! Where can we find and follow you online?

The best way to contact me is max@maxsilaev.com
Also, feel free to connect to my Linkedin https://linkedin.com/in/maxim-silaev