Q: What’s your name, title, business?

A: Sarah Jane Maxted, Associate Director on MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future, and Founder, Maxted LLC. See her full bio, here.

Q: Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey.

A: One of my bosses and mentors says that you are either a hypster, hacker or hustler -entrepreneur. And I would definitely argue I’m a hustler. I love solving problems - big and small - and then actually executing on the solution. My career to-date has been spent supporting innovators and entrepreneurs and easing the pathway to success (or more quickly to failure /pivot/ etc.). While most of my focus has been in the broader clean energy, agriculture and water space, I have worked across a lot of different industries in dozens of regions all over the world. I’ve worn hats across government, academia and venture organizations and my value is not that I am a lifelong entrepreneur who has started a dozen companies, but more so the value of understanding the entire system and creating/developing companies that are built on the right foundation.

Q: What was the most powerful lesson you learned on this journey?

A: Relevancy and resiliency. And, maybe even more resiliency than anything. I’ve gotten rejected or told I cannot do something so many times in my career (& I fully expect to get dozens more). It is still hard at times for me to not fight back and make the case again and again. I think to be entrepreneurial you really have to be ok with being ‘rejected’. Of course, the positive spin on ‘rejection’ is ‘resiliency’. The ability to come back and to do it in a way that is even better than the first time or to do something new all together; toughness; elasticity. As a part of this resiliency I have also really had to learn how to communicate and to listen. This is not a personal strength at times for me, but listening is an incredibly powerful tool. As an entrepreneur you are going to get a LOT of feedback. Maybe 30% is actually helpful, but being able to listen and be respectful is incredibly important as you never know where a relationship or idea might lead you.

Q: How do you apply this to your mentoring?

A: I view every entrepreneur I meet with as more of an expert than me in what they are solving for (well 99% of the time, at least!). I view my role as more of a guide or sous chef per se. I try to listen and then cull through all the networks of information I have to try to help provide some direction or support. Often it doesn’t matter the industry/sector, as many lessons can be applied across start-ups.

Q: Why are you involved with SCAPE?

A: I was born and raised in Durango, Colorado and I care deeply for the people and economic health of the region. I recently moved back to Colorado and my first step (a bit delayed with COVID-19 crisis) was to try to connect in and help out Durango and the SW region and I came across SCAPE. 

Q: Why should someone apply for SCAPE?

A: Community/network, and curated resources.

Q: What do you love most about Durango?

A: Well, it is home to a majority of people that I love and care for most. And, it holds most of my childhood memories so hard for me to not love it. More professionally speaking, what I love about Durango is its’ ability to function like a full fledged hub/metropolitan area, yet maintain its’ small town feel. It has all these great institutions and foundations like the city government, Fort Lewis, natural resources, and many more as well as this grittiness to the community and culture - the ability to identify a challenge and to find a solution (i.e., enterprising and innovative!). In my opinion it is also a great test bed for new innovation and technology deployment because it is a bit more isolated than some cities. For certain sectors and industries, Durango is an incredible place to experiment and innovate.