Maxine Smith is an Associate on the Investment Team based in London. She supports on Investment Operations, the Angel Programme, and the Fund of Funds Programme.
Maxine Smith
Maxine Smith is an Associate on the Investment Team based in London. She supports on Investment Operations, the Angel Programme, and the Fund of Funds Programme.
I've lived in a few places but the Philippines will always be home
I’m originally from the Philippines and the US and was born and raised in Manila. Since then, I’ve lived in Moscow, Hong Kong, Connecticut, and New York, before moving to London for university then starting my career at Atomico.
My career started with Atomico
Right after graduating from university, I joined Atomico as an intern supporting the Insights team on the State of European Tech report which was a great way of getting in-depth insight into the tech and VC ecosystem. After that, I joined as a Project Analyst working across all teams including Investment, Insights, and Growth Acceleration - and then joined the Investment team.
I’ve never stopped asking “why?”
I come from a family of politicians and although I don't see myself pursuing a career path in that direction, growing up in that environment always made me question decision making processes and the motivation behind why people do what they do. That's ultimately why I chose to study Marketing at the London School of Economics with a focus on understanding consumer behaviour and the biases that influence our decision making processes.
It’s just as interesting to learn why a founder has decided to build something as it is to learn about what they’re building
Products are often built around pain points that founders have experienced first hand — whether personally or professionally — and this is the part of the storytelling that I find most compelling.
Never judge a book by its cover
A well designed UI/UX doesn't always mean a great product, and the same can be said vice versa. It pays to keep an open, challenging mind. I try to do so whenever I can - in building relationships, in thinking through operational strategy, and in analysing investment opportunities.
I spend a lot of my free time in galleries, museums and sculpture parks
I love art - from masters to modern. On weekends, you can probably find me at the National Gallery, The Wallace Collection or at a sculpture park in the countryside. There are more parallels between the artworld and the tech/startup scene than may be readily apparent - and with the growth of web 3.0, these parallels are likely to increase.
