This blog post is part of our Meet the Team series posted here each Friday.
Max Li | Product Manager
Current City: Washington, DC
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Next up in our series is our Product Manager, Max Li. Max is a Product Manager working on a variety of add-on and consumables offerings to help Rise Gardens realize its vision of being a customizable and extensible product for all. He has never been successful at gardening before joining Rise Gardens, but now has more lettuce and arugula than he knows what to do with.
Why did you choose to work with Rise Gardens?
The Rise Gardens system is an amazingly effortless introduction to professional quality gardening. The idea that someone like me with absolutely no gardening experience could start growing delicious veggies without previous experience was intriguing and I wanted to be part of a company with such a cool mission.
What's your favorite dish to cook?
Pho! The idea that I can pick my own Thai basil from the Rise Garden is incredibly convenient, since it's such a key part of the Pho toppings and I typically have to drive 20 mins to the store to pick some up.
Tell us about your gardening experience.
I tried to grow veggies from seeds last spring and failed miserably with 6 different types of leafy greens, herbs, and root veggies. The only thing that worked for me was to buy a pot with existing herbs and planting it in the ground. I never thought I would have enough patience and knowledge to get something to grow from seeds but Rise Garden helped me do exactly that!
What are you reading right now?
21 lessons for the 21st century - Yuval Harari
What are you watching on TV right now?
El Presidente (Amazon)
How do you spend your free time?
Hiking with my dogs, watching TV with family, working on various woodworking/renovation projects around the house