Portrait of Lee Eisenbarth

How did you start?

I started in 2008 making MySpace layouts for people who paid in compliments, and had the nerve to call myself a consultant.

Then what?

Four companies bought in a decade. I came in as the founding designer, ended up running design and product, and helped get every one of them across the line. Two of the four had private equity behind them.

  1. ClearScholar
  2. Civitas Learning
  3. MomentPath
  4. LineLeader
What did that teach you?

A lot about my own decisions, the week I first reported to a new board.

Brands or products?

People treat those as two jobs. I’ve never been able to find the seam.

The work was never the forty screens. It was knowing which ones not to build.

How do you work now?

The tools got fast. Nobody shipped me better taste.

Meaning what?

I learned this job the slow way. Sketch it, build it, ship it, get yelled at, fix it. Eighteen years of that is muscle you can’t download.

And the AI agents?

I work with them all day. Best assistants I’ve ever had, after Hannah, of course. Fast, tireless, and a little too confident. The craft is knowing what to ask, and knowing wrong when I see it.

So can I hire you?

Definitely. Through MaxQ opens gomaxq.com.

On the record

Ideas get better in conversation.

Off the record

The rest of it.

I’m in the Midwest with my wife Amanda, our son Henry, and a dog named Tesla The Good Girl opens instagram.com. Proud uncle to two nieces and a nephew.

A couple on the stone steps of a courthouse, both smiling, the woman holding a Certificate of Marriage in a manila envelope. Instant-film print.
Anything else?

I run. I garden badly. I read less than I used to, since Henry, and the list is here anyway. And I write a few small angel checks on the side.

Got pictures?
  1. Who’s this?Henry, before he could walk. The one facing the yard is Tesla The Good Girl.
  2. And now?He walks now. We follow.
  3. Who’s everyone?Amanda, Henry, two nieces and a nephew.
Where does the work happen?
A green paneled office in warm side light: framed posters of a US National Parks chart, an aircraft blueprint, and a map of Indiana, a pennant reading There is no substitute for hard work, a small framed photograph beside a NASA patch, a leather chair, and a sideboard of books. Instant-film print.

Mostly here. The small frame on the right is a wedding photo. It’s been to space.

Dream gig? Something I made, in orbit. A satellite, a payload, a sticker on the rocket. I’m not picky. Call me.