Meet Max Byrne of Akari and Co

Today we’d like to introduce you to Max Byrne.

Hi Max, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve generated over 300 million views and millions of dollars for my clients, and it all started with a high school teacher who treated us like real creators—not just students filling time.

His name was Mr. Keith Pickering-Walters—”PW” to his students—and his High school broadcasting class in Livermore, California changed everything for me. When he challenged us to pitch original show concepts for our weekly school broadcast, he gave us real stakes: real audience, real airtime, real pressure to make something people would actually watch. That environment pushed me to create “Chats With Max,” a man-on-the-street style interview show that became a weekly staple on campus.

That early taste of content creation was addictive. Time felt like it was melting away when I was working in the studio. I fell in love with being behind and in front of the camera, so I headed to LA (or more accurately, the outskirts of LA) to study at Azusa Pacific University. I continued “Chats With Max” as a college radio show for all four years, interviewing creatives and entrepreneurs from the student body and even landing a celebrity hairstylist from Beverly Hills.
During my junior year, I applied for an internship at 102.7 KIIS FM. I didn’t get it the first time, so I studied abroad in Barcelona that spring. When I returned, I reapplied, this time claiming I was referred by Ryan Seacrest, my career idol at the time. It worked. I got the interview and was accepted into the program.

That internship at iHeart Media was transformative. I met incredible mentors like Angel Nagar, Lisa Marie, and Beata Murphy, powerful women who guided me through the industry. After graduating, I applied for a board operator position at KIIS FM and… didn’t get the job. It was incredibly competitive and the pay was terrible anyway.
For the next nine months, I hustled with freelancing video production, auditioning for commercial acting gigs (and getting denied several times across LA, which was very humbling), and bartending events at Pop Champagne in Pasadena. Eventually, I reapplied and finally landed the board operator role.

A year into operating the boards for stations like 98.7 Alt FM, KOST 103.5, and KIIS FM, I heard the Video Producer for the Seacrest Show was leaving. I literally did some push-ups in the studio, walked into Jennifer Sawalha’s office, and pitched myself for the job. Between my freelance work shooting for brands like MVMT watches and my own video podcast experiments, I had the experience to back it up.

I got the job and spent the next three years as the National Video Producer/Manager at On Air with Ryan Seacrest. We had everyone: Selena Gomez, The Jonas Brothers, 50 Cent, Halsey. The list goes on. This is where I mastered the art of recording and editing interviews on incredibly quick turnarounds.

When COVID hit, we transitioned to remote interviews, and something shifted for me. I started feeling the itch to do more and be in the content myself. That’s when I applied to Aputure to become the content creator and face of their new brand, amaran.

This is where everything clicked. I used every skill I’d built over the years but became deeply analytical about social media algorithms and what actually worked. I optimized content for amaran and produced videos that generated tens of millions of views, growing their social accounts from 0 to 100K followers in under a year. I was promoted to Global Content and Community Manager, and that year we generated over 30 million views.

People in LA started noticing. Colleagues and acquaintances began asking me to help with their social media strategies, and I started taking on freelance work. The side work kept growing until it became overwhelming to balance with my full-time job. I had to make a decision: keep climbing the corporate ladder or build my own business?
I made the decision to leave and launched my social media agency, Akari and Co. The name came from my love of anime at the time—I learned that “Akari” means light in Japanese, and I wanted to show businesses the light to growth through social media strategy. Soon after launching, I locked in what was at the time a very large contract with Shopify to help with their social strategy and content creation. That solidified everything. I was on the right path and going all in was the right decision.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The path wasn’t always smooth. Getting rejected from that first KIIS FM internship and then the board operator job was tough. There were months of uncertainty, juggling multiple freelance gigs and service jobs just to stay afloat in LA.

Even after building a successful career at iHeart Media and Aputure, leaving the stability of a full-time position to start an agency was terrifying. There’s comfort in a steady paycheck and a clear career trajectory. Walking away from that to bet on myself required a leap of faith.

In the early days of Akari and Co, it was just me. I was doing everything—sales, strategy, content creation, editing, client management. The learning curve of running a business while delivering results for clients was steep. I had to quickly figure out how to scale without sacrificing quality.

As you know, we’re big fans of Akari and Co. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Today, Akari and Co is a social media agency that specializes in making brands famous and selling products online. We primarily work with eCommerce companies and direct-to-consumer apps, helping them grow through organic and paid social strategies.

Our approach is hands-on and data driven. We source and produce User Generated Content (UGC) that converts, develop bespoke social media strategies tailored to each client’s unique needs, and create content designed to perform, not just look pretty.

In less than two years since going full-time, we’ve generated over 300 million views for our clients and millions of dollars in incremental revenue through our UGC ads. We’ve collaborated with incredible brands like Shopify, Spotify, amaran, Aputure, and HeyGen.

I now have a small but mighty team, including Micay Jean, who’s been instrumental as a Content Coordinator for many of our clients. What sets us apart is our deep understanding of what actually works on social media—not what looks good in a pitch deck, but what drives real views, engagement, and sales.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Reps matter more than perfection. From my high school broadcast show to my college radio program to working at KIIS FM, I put in thousands of hours learning my craft. As a content strategist, I’ve produced 5,319 videos across my career and clients. Not every project was a hit. Not every social media post was a hit. but every one taught me something. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity, just start creating.

Study what actually works, not what you think should work. When I started getting analytical about social media algorithms at amaran, everything changed. Data and testing beat assumptions every time. Be willing to let go of your ego and follow what the numbers tell you.

Just because you launch your own business doesn’t mean you don’t have a boss. Now my clients are my bosses. We’ve had some clients where we didn’t hit our goals, but it’s all about communication and strategizing on what went wrong, how we can improve it, and when the time comes, ending things amicably if we’re not the right fit to collaborate together. That accountability and transparency has been crucial to building trust and long-term relationships.

Take risks at the right moments. Whether it was claiming Ryan Seacrest referred me, doing push-ups before pitching myself for a promotion, or leaving a stable job to start my agency, the biggest leaps in my career came from bold moves. But they were calculated risks backed by preparation and planning.

Your network is everything. The mentors I met at iHeart Media, the relationships I built in LA, the freelance clients and previous employers who became agency clients—none of this would have happened without investing in genuine relationships. Show up, be helpful, and stay in touch.

Starting Akari and Co has been the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Every day I get to help brands tell their stories and grow their businesses through social media—and that still feels like that kid in high school who fell in love with creating content, just on a much bigger stage.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Akariandco.com
• Instagram: chatswithmax
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-byrne-75809187