This article is written by Lex Gillard a WES 2025 student journalist and writer for The Boar.
Sometimes, life is a bit weird. You plan to go to the toilet, wash your hands, and continue your life journey. Then, Max Klymenko randomly walks into the bathroom. I greeted him and expressed my enjoyment of his videos, but obviously I didn’t ask for a picture.
Ideally, it would’ve been nice to meet him somewhere grander and less ... grimy. But nothing beats the timeless elegance of a Warwick bathroom.
Max Klymenko is a Ukrainian-born entrepreneur; owner of his own advertising agency, KLYM&CO; and content creator with over nine million followers across all platforms. He is also a Warwick Business School alumnus, although business degrees aren’t known for being particularly taxing. However, I can’t say too much as he has three other degrees – including in subjects like economics and law.
He was the last act of the Warwick Economics Summit (WES), and, in my opinion, one of the best. During his address, he shared his career journey and path to success with students.
The main lesson of his keynote was to never give up. He shared how he’d applied to Amazon four years in a row and sent hundreds of online applications, receiving rejection after rejection.
However, WES came to his aid. In a ‘Meet the Speaker’ session with Mark Purdy, the then Senior Executive of Accenture, Max asked if he would be willing to join him for a podcast.
Surprisingly, Mark was willing to make an appearance. The only problem? Max didn’t even have a podcast.
After quickly setting up a podcast, he spoke to Mark Purdy about AI and its potential impacts on productivity and jobs. Afterwards, he took a bold step, asking for a role at Accenture. His perseverance paid off, with him landing an interview and the job.
However, after two years at the firm, he joined an advertising agency but he felt like he needed a new challenge. He proceeded to set up KLYM&CO.
One of the most successful projects was an initiative with the UN who, during Covid-19, had “a big trust problem” when it came to public health. They got the doctors, the scientists, the NHS, and other institutions to talk about their everyday work, humanising science and building confidence. This seems to have worked, with Max showing the audience a graph depicting a surge in UK vaccine uptake following his campaign. He joked: “I’m not saying we saved the world, but we kind of saved the world.” Is this an exaggeration? Absolutely. Was the impact real? Undeniable.
After explaining his story, he then gave some advice on “some things [he] wished [he’d] known”.
Firstly, do not purely focus on grades and don’t worry if you fail to achieve a first at university. Despite business degrees clearly being a walk in the park, Max failed to receive a first. How far off was he? A massive 0.02%. He got 69.98% in his degree, falling barely short of the necessary 70%. He was devastated and felt like it was “the single greatest worst thing to ever happen to [him]”, especially as Warwick refused to round up his grade. However, he argues that it did not prevent him from succeeding, nor do employers significantly value a first-class degree as long as you graduate with a 2:1 from a good university. Although, Max did admit he “still kind of [holds] a grudge” at being so close and yet so far.
Secondly, don’t place too much value on fame and money. He argued that his “level of happiness [has] stayed the same throughout” his life. He is just as happy now as when he used to sell tennis rackets back in 2017, and even though he has achieved such fame, he still feels the ups and the downs the same as before. He expanded on this in his Q&A following his address. He noted that when the well-off argue that money doesn't make one happy, they are often branded liars or out of touch. However, he argued that what wealthy people often say about being rich was genuinely true, at least for him.
Then, he then gave other advice on how running a business can be “very enjoyable” but very difficult: hiring and firing people, dealing with clients, managing products, and more can be taxing. Furthermore, he noted how “it’s crazy that we live in a society where if you work a normal job, then suddenly you are not as successful as some kind of grifter online who teaches masculinity” just because they have a business. He recommends focusing on a problem you want to solve rather than on fame and money.
Also, Max highlighted the importance of luck in his journey, claiming how “[he] totally got lucky”. He previously believed he was unlucky, like with his grades at business school, but now, he believes he wouldn’t be where he is today without having been lucky. He added most successful people have been lucky to achieve what they have, but working hard increases the chances of being lucky. He also expressed how “it's unfortunate that our society is so built on luck” with some who are not as deserving, reaping rewards while others who work hard, struggle.
His fifth piece of advice is to change your definition of success from fame and money to “increasing the amount of time where I can be myself” at all times, be it in your personal life or at work. When he first worked in the corporate world and when starting his business, “he tried to fit in” by pretending to be someone he was not. He felt like he often found himself “playing a character”. Suggesting this may have been “successful on paper”, he said it wasn’t truly fulfilling, as he wasn’t really himself.
Finally, he advised that people find a field where “you are actually, genuinely useful” to help solve a problem that you are “uniquely equipped” to solve. This is because he wakes up every day feeling “great” about his job, as he is having a strong positive impact on the world.
Overall, Max’s talk was one of my highlights of WES. I learned a lot from him and would love to see him again one day. I’m sure the prospect of a picture with me in a Warwick bathroom will be enough to lure him back next year.
The views and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Warwick Economics Summit.
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