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Entrepreneurship rarely unfolds in a straight line. It twists, redirects, and reshapes itself as people learn who they are and what they want to build.��

For Eli Marx-Kahn, that path began long before today.

Originally from Berkeley, he grew up in a place where academic culture, entrepreneurial zeal, and access to nature lived side by side. When he moved south to San Diego for college, trading the Bay for the beach, he spent four years surrounded by both science and surf culture. At UC San Diego, he studied neuroscience, and though he did not yet know it, those themes would form the foundation of the entrepreneur he would later become.

When entrepreneurship began to take shape in his life in a more formal way, the transition was gradual. But it carried him directly into an early venture, resulting in profound lessons and experience during the last 6 months of undergraduate school.

Colorado entered the picture next. During the pandemic, Eli relocated to Fort Collins before eventually settling in Boulder, where he found a deeper connection to the mountains. Boulder gave him a sense of community. It became the place where he wanted to build a long-term presence, both personally and professionally.

An Early Beginning

It was during this time that he founded a holistic education startup aimed at equipping high school students with life skills beyond the classroom. The mission was to help students develop not only academically, but personally and emotionally. Marx-Kahn and his co-founder took the venture through Berkeley SkyDeck, an accelerator at UC Berkeley, but the company ultimately did not gain enough traction to sustain itself.

After contemplating a pivot, he and his co-founder eventually decided to go their separate ways. He sees this experience not as a tragedy, but rather a triumph, and more specifically, a learning experience. It would become a guiding factor for years to come.��

The startup showed him how complex building something from scratch can be. It also revealed the importance of having a real problem at the center of any venture. He learned that beginning with a shiny idea can feel exciting, but unless it solves a clear pain point for real people, the spark fades quickly.��

“A lot of aspiring entrepreneurs keep a list of business ideas. I think a better orientation is to keep a list of problems you want to solve… start with a very clear problem, not a shiny hammer looking for a nail.”

Once his startup sunsetted its core product, Eli did not step away from entrepreneurship. Instead, he stepped into consulting, a path that allowed him to apply everything he had learned while gaining new experiences with every client he met.��

It was a transition built on both necessity and opportunity. He had worn many hats during his time as a startup founder, and those skills transferred naturally into supporting other early-stage companies in bringing their products to market.��

Navigating Pressure and Possibility

Now, he is pursuing graduate studies in Leeds to sharpen his technical skills in finance and data while strengthening his network to build a long-term career in Colorado. He is currently balancing school with his consulting practice, so he can put his newfound MBA knowledge to work inside of real companies.

His graduate studies did not arise from a need for a credential, but from a desire to fill gaps he felt as both a founder and a consultant. Working with more than two dozen companies exposed him to the reality that strategy alone is not enough.��

To build or advise effectively, he knew he needed deeper financial and analytical abilities. Leeds offered not only those courses but the chance to embed himself more fully in the Boulder entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Like his original startup, he is evolving with experience. Each client, each team, each business has their own culture. They have norms they abide by, ideal communication channels, specifics they are willing to change, all factors that make each team so different. It is Marx-Kahn’s responsibility to provide the best knowledge and insights to make them successful.

“Treating each engagement as an opportunity to learn from the people I’m working with lets me serve them better.”

His consulting philosophy has evolved dramatically since he first began. Early on, he approached companies like a typical consultant, arriving with solutions and a desire to fix whatever seemed inefficient.��

But he quickly realized that no amount of strategy matters if the team is not ready or willing to adopt change. Instead of pushing sweeping transformations, he now embeds himself in the organization, observing how people communicate and identifying where change is welcomed. This shift has made his work more effective and more human.

Sometimes his work is marketing-led, sometimes sales-led, sometimes product-led, which is why he now refers to himself primarily as a go-to-market strategist rather than just a marketer. As he says, this mindset not only makes him more effective, but it also continually sharpens his own understanding of what it means to contribute meaningfully to a team.

Grounded in Real People

Every project becomes an educational opportunity for him. The variety of companies he works with, ranging from AI startups to established food and beverage brands, forces him to adapt and listen deeply. Though he may have specialized knowledge in positioning and growth strategy, the people inside the company hold domain knowledge that he may lack. His job is to meet them where they are and help them move forward.

This perspective runs parallel to his definition of entrepreneurship. To him, entrepreneurship means solving real problems for real people. It means grounding solutions in actual conversations, not assumptions or imaginary customer personas. It reflects the same pattern that has shaped his own journey.

“To test our hypotheses, we need flesh and blood. We need to interact with the human beings we’re trying to serve and bring curiosity into every conversation we have.”

Marx-Kahn’s path is not linear, and that is exactly what gives it strength. From neuroscience to holistic education, from consulting to graduate school, every step has layered new insight onto the last.��

His entrepreneurial mindset is not defined solely by the companies he builds, but by the way he approaches people and problems. Whether consulting for established brands or working toward becoming a founder again, his philosophy remains the same.