I started a new site – maxspiker.com – it’s more recent. Go there.
My name is Max Spiker. I travel, build WordPress sites and write about photography, travel, broadband & web design. My life mission is to find innovative ways to connect interesting people and support creative people from around the world.
I spent a few years as a digital nomad traveling the world with Ashley as a way of life – road tripping across America, flying to Asia, Europe, Hawaii, Central America, and the Caribbean. I spent a lot of time in LA, San Francisco, NYC, Las Vegas, Austin and Miami connecting to entrepreneurs. Here’s a “lifelapse” of that whirlwind 2 years:
We lived completely spontaneously – day to day – making zero future plans of any kind with anyone. (I learned a lot of people are not ok with this). Overall it was a lot of fun but also got expensive and we hit some logistical snags – so we ended up settling down in Florida in 2012. After Sarasota and South Beach we moved to LA and 2 months later decided to travel again indefinitely. So we are once again on the road, seeing where life takes us.
I’ve been developing for the web since 1998. In 2001 I launched my first website at the University of Florida called Gatormenu, which was one of the first online ordering businesses for restaurants. It was borne out of an idea I had while sitting in my junior year SQL database course.
After getting a BS in business (heh), I didn’t know what to do with my life so I went to law school. After 2 months, I quit law school to form my first web development company where I partnered with a local magazine to create websites for local businesses.
In 2004 I moved to Sarasota, Florida where I pitched the local Sotheby’s International Realty affiliate to develop their website for the next several years. I got to work with some of the earliest mapping API’s (like Yahoo’s now-defunct flash based maps) and learned to outsource some of my web development projects.
In 2006 I decided to form a company with a friend of mine to pursue affiliate marketing full time in lieu of running a client-based business. That year I attended Future of Web Apps & Pubcon and met a lot of internet entrepreneurs. I started AU Interactive with my college buddy and at the beginning of 2007 – after months of experimentation – we hit our stride in the affiliate space.
Over the years we enjoyed great success and I started traveling extensively. At the end of 2010 I left the company and decided to pursue my own projects.
Feel free to contact me.