Max may well have found evidence of oil however it was Ted...

Max may well have found evidence of oil however it was Ted Ellyard who asked Stein to do the interpretation of the data with Dolan . Stein and Dolan earned equity in Hardman for doing the interpretation. You may ask how they got the equity, simply looking at the data they saw what was there and negotiated equity for the interpretation. They were both at a consultancy firm called Ikoda at that time.
Post this Stein and Dolan withdrew form Ikoda and with Jonothan Taylor set up fusion oil and gas. Stein became CEO and Dolan became Chairman.
As I said Stein has form and lots of it, he is a proven person in the O&G.
Max may have been the architect but it was Stein who looked at the data and said where to spud.