Maxim Frenkel's path into venture is unusual: he started playing chess before he could speak and later ran a chess school, then worked as a bank clerk and in corporate and investment banking before sending hundreds of cold emails to move into technology investing, all while drawing on his Bavarian Alps upbringing and love of mountaineering to shape how he thinks about backing founders. At Blossom Capital, where he left and later returned as Partner in what he and the firm's founder called a full circle moment, he has focused on founders building technology for security and defense, including companies like Comand AI.