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Chief Change Officer
#194 Yale Ventures Managing Director Josh Geballe: Bridging the Academic-Entrepreneurial Divide
00:29:15
Most people dream of landing a cushy corporate gig. Josh Geballe? He walked away from one. Leaving behind his role as CFO at IBM Europe, he bet on a 16-person startup in Connecticut—because why not trade stability for adventure? Over three decades, Josh has embraced impact over comfort, tackling everything from scaling companies to steering Connecticut’s COVID-19 response. Now, as Managing Director of Yale Ventures, he’s on a mission to supercharge entrepreneurship and innovation.
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- [00:13]
A
Hi everyone. Welcome to our show. Chief Change Officer, I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change, progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today we're talking with Josh Chabal, the Managing Director of Yale Ventures. You've likely heard of Yale University, but what about Yale Ventures is a key part of the Yale's innovation ecosystem, collaborating with faculty, students, entrepreneurs and local governments to drive all sorts of innovation activities. Yale Ventures, for example, helps scientists and scholars turn their inventions into real products, the commercialization process, so to speak, assist them in raising money, build teams and support students in developing the innovation ideas. And a little personal note. George and I are both MBA alum from the Yale School of Management. We both graduated in year 2002. He chose a path in consulting, I went into finance. George's career has been nothing short of remarkable, filled with impact and challenges. I'll save the specifics for you to discover in this episode. Among many roles, George was pivotal in managing Connecticut's COVID 19 health response. For those interested in his contribution during that critical period, check out the YouTube link in the show Notes where he hosted a press conference. Without further ado, let's dive in.
- [02:33]
B
Great. Thanks Vince for having me. I'm delighted to be here. As you point out, started at Yale as an undergraduate, worked for a few years, went back to Yale to the School of Management to get MBA and then spent majority of my career in the technology industry. So initially 11 years at IBM climbing the corporate ladder, a number of different roles in client facing, consulting roles, the internal finance organization, general management, but left to become the CEO of a software startup that was doing scientific data management called cloud kind of software as a service for scientists and grew that company over a number of years. Ultimately were acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of the major global scientific tools companies. Worked there for a couple years as running a new division they created when we were acquired called Digital Science that was a combination of our business plus some other software assets that they had. And once that was integration was set up and the team was integrated, Left was taking some time off for the first time in my career and got a call from the woman who led the series B investment in my startup company letting me know that her husband had just got elected governor of the state of Connecticut and asking if I wanted to get involved in the administration. And so that led to three years of a a detour into the public sector where I worked for the governor here in Connecticut as the chief operating officer for the state responsible for all the executive branch agencies and did that for three years when this new opportunity presented itself to come back to Yale to a new role that was created to bring together all the programs and services that support entrepreneurs, innovators at Yale looking to have an impact in the world. So. So I'll talk about that more. But that's my journey in a nutshell.
- [04:31]
A
I spoke with our classmate Irina in an early episode. She's founded and is now leading a new venture in the energy transition sector. Like you, she has made several significant career transitions since mba. I find each of them fascinating. When I asked her about the common themes in her career moves, she said two Self, starter and curiosity. Before we dive deeper into each phase of your career, what have been your main drivers for exploring and try new things over the past 20 years?
- [05:21]
B
Yeah, I think there's really been two common themes that I've been seeking out at each step. And first is impact. Wanting to be in a position where the work that I was doing was making a useful impact in the world, solving a problem or contributing to solving problems that I thought were important to solve and that if successful, would have a really positive impact on society more generally. So that's one. And then the second one was challenges seeking out interesting challenges where I felt like I would learn, where I'd be challenged, where I would have to push myself to get better and to grow as a professional, as a person. And so those have been the two common threads that I maybe weave together what would otherwise look like a rather unusual career journey that I've been on.
- [06:20]
A
You've got a strong background in strategy from your education at Yale, then as a strategy consultant at IBM, diving deep into business strategies with solid logic. But when it comes to something more powerful personal, such as career decisions, career moves, it sounds like even for analytical minds like ours, there's a need to balance logic with psychology. If I have to use a economic term, it is about finding equilibrium between the two. Have to encounter any mental hurdles while trying to decide on a career booth. Or in figuring out if a decision is right or worthwhile. If you have. How do you navigate the psychological ups and downs in your career decisions?
- [07:22]
B
Yeah, it's interesting question. It's a very. It's a very deep question. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm going to answer it with a very shallow answer, which is ultimately, I think it was each of these big changes. It was just following my gut instinct, I think at each step that when opportunities presented themselves, I just pretty quickly would come to an instinct on Whether it was a good idea or not, and just followed that instinct. But in the end I think it's really, for me at least it's been that simple. And fortunately there's none of those kind of gut instinct decisions I've made over the years. I go back, say I wish I'd done that differently. It's been very fortunate that it served me well so far.
- [08:04]
A
I'd like to explore more about your move from IBM to a startup early in your career. After completing your MBA at Yale, you started as a consultant at IBM. That was amazing. Remember that was 2002, after 911, a lot of us were challenged to get a full time job upon graduation. Yet you got a full time job offer from IBM. After about a decade with IBM you move to a venture where if I remember correctly, you were the 16th employee. What was going through your mind when you made the switch from a well established firm to a startup that you needed to help grow? What was your gut feeling about the transition?
- [09:03]
B
Yeah, my 11 years at IBM was amazing. Like I learned an enormous amount, incredibly rewarding period of time. I really loved it. As I got deeper into my time there, you know, I come to the conclusion that I didn't want to spend my entire career there. I think that was. But it's clearly a path in that direction and a lot of the people I worked with had worked there their entire career and that was a great, it was a great company, still is. But I had this kind of growing instinct that I wanted to be part of something that was smaller, that was more entrepreneurial, that was more disruptive. During the second last job I had, IBM was an international assignment in Europe. When I came back, started looking around, just trying to identify a company or co founders that were doing something that I thought was particularly interesting. And it was casual at first and I was just very fortunate to reconnect with actually an old high school friend who had co founded this software startup and was at a point where they were getting some traction. They were looking for a business leader to come and help them grow and complement their technical skills and just the stars aligned and it all fell into place. But it was really more than anything this instinct that a lot of the real impactful change that happens in business and society often is driven by smaller, disruptive kind of entrepreneurial startups and that I wanted to experience, that I wanted to contribute to that, be part of that.
- [10:28]
A
I bet you must have experienced a lot of cultural shock in this transition.
- [10:37]
B
Sure. I think that transition was as you probably expect Rather, rather dramatic going from one of the biggest companies in the world to a tiny little startup. And there's an enormous number of benefits and things that I love about startups. I relished about that opportunity. Of course it carries a lot of challenges as well. You're much more at risk in terms of having smaller number of customers, more reliance on making sure the payables are coming through, the orders are getting done so that you can meet payroll and keep the lights on while you're innovating and adding value, adding new features and products to grow the business, attracting talent. But it's much more kind of chaotic. Every day presents new challenges, but it was great. That's what I wanted and I wanted that kind of very dynamic challenge and I got it. And so I think moving from a big stable company to that type of startup environment is not for everyone and certainly an important set of considerations for people considering a change like that. But it was just what I wanted, it was what I embraced. But it's nonetheless certainly in the moment, if we were battling for a new customer or we were trying to make an existing customer successful that was struggling with adoption or whether it was trying to get around of venture capital financing closed when we were know, running low on cash, there was so many of those moments of extreme kind of challenge and stress that at the time were very all consuming. You know, you can look back afterwards a successful outcome and embrace that as part of the journey. But it's certainly anyone who's worked at a startup or a fast growing small company knows it's every day is this new challenge and a new opportunity to learn and to grow.
- [12:25]
A
You joined the public sector during a very interesting time. From 2019 to 2022, you were responsible for Connecticut's Covid health response efforts. Can you share with us some of your insights from your experience during this period of time?
- [12:48]
B
Sure, yeah. When I joined the administration, the Lamont administration at the beginning, the real, the original vision for what I was going to do was the governor had a very strong priority and agenda to use technology better in government, to modernize our operations. That we were really behind the times, that there was a huge opportunity to modernize state operations, to improve service, to reduce costs, but also to break down silos between state agencies and foster better collaboration, better problem solving, better service for the residents of the state. And given my technology background, that was really the main thrust to start. But then when Covid hit about a year later, at that point I was the chief operating officer for the state. So I had all the other commissioners reporting to me, and I was about this battlefield promotion to lead the state's Covid response. And that was, yeah, quite an experience because here I am, this guy who's kind of come up in the technology industry now in the middle of this kind of once in a lifetime public health crisis, having to be the person the governor is looking to marshal resources, help us chart our course forward as serving him and this kind of broad set of stakeholders we brought together. So it was quite a journey and it was obviously incredibly stressful in many ways, but in the end, I think also very rewarding. There's a lot of data to back up kind of public perception that overall, state of Connecticut did a solid job of balancing many of the competing forces and factors that everyone was weighing through that period of time, and I think leading the state through to overall very good outcomes relative to a lot of our neighboring states, a lot of other areas around the country and the world. It was hopefully something I'll never have to experience again. I just feel. I probably feel that way, but at the same time, a period of my career I'm definitely proud of.
- [14:42]
A
The COVID 19 pandemic was truly a once in a lifetime event that went beyond anything we've learned from traditional business or management textbooks. Reflecting on that unusual and intense period, what were your main challenges using your consultant mindset and entrepreneurial experience, how did you address or mitigate these challenges as you learned and adapted to find better and more effective solutions for all?
- [15:22]
B
Yeah, there were so many. There were so many learnings and lessons along the way. I do think the point you make about the commonality with general business management, there were a lot of similarities. And I think the importance of communication, first and foremost was a period of time where even the experts, the public health experts, the medical experts were trying to figure things out in real time and often had more questions than answers. Just trying to make sure we were communicating openly and honestly and being transparent with the public about what we had confidence in and what we didn't have confidence in, what we were still working on and trying to figure out, and also communicating internally. We had a lot, so many stakeholders involved, agencies, nonprofits, hospitals, et cetera, and just keeping lines of communication wide open, I think, is a clear one. Also recognizing where you need to bring in additional help, where you need additional expertise, and not being shy about doing that. And I think that was a real strength of our governor, was recognizing, you know, that we didn't have all the resources in state government that we were going to need to marshal the best possible response. And so he enlisted a lot of other outside leaders, health and health care and public health, but also in business. And we were obviously thinking about the impacts on the private sector, the impacts on education, children, and so bringing in experts from across the board who can help advise us through that was a real important part. And then operations too. We had the benefit of marshaling resources from the National Guard and a lot of agencies that have resources and operational excellence, but also getting support from the private sector and from other nonprofit organizations to be able to execute the strategies that we put in place to mature, deploy. Whether it's testing or PPE or vaccines or whatever the challenge of the day.
- [17:05]
A
Was at the time, you've managed complex operations involving stakeholders with different interests, agendas and goals that sometimes, and especially in the unusual and intense time period, conflict with collective objectives. Now, at Yale, you are engaging with a wide range of groups, faculty, students, administrators in the public sector. What is your approach to managing these multi stakeholder relationships? As you're well aware, this is crucial not only to the success of your role, but also also to impact you aim to achieve.
- [17:51]
B
Yeah, I think it starts with making sure that everybody you're working with knows that you're operating with integrity and that you're operating in good faith and that the point of view that you're going to push forward is one that's clear and hopefully aligned with something that people can understand and get excited about, or at least aren't understand and empathize with. The second point too, which is often when we're working with people with different agendas or different goals, the importance of listening as well and really understanding the perspective of that other party and what was important to them and why were they espousing a different view or why were they pushing in a different direction. I think too often people don't take the time or to really put themselves no first choosing. If you do that and you do that sincerely and really invest the time, it does make it more likely that you can find common ground. But at a minimum, if you do have to negotiate through or navigate different conflicts or disagreements, at least there is that kind of base of trust that at least you understand what's important to them and why they feel that way. But in the end, it does require effort to push things forward and sometimes have to agree to disagree and to try to drive towards the outcome that you feel is the right one at the end. And I think maybe those are some of the common themes that I've experienced or observed over the years, a cliche.
- [19:23]
A
Question at this point would be, oh, George, was your typical day at Yale? Well, I believe there isn't any typical day. So let me flip the question. Tell us about what are some of the things that you try to help with the Yale communities day in and day out.
- [19:41]
B
Yeah, every case is different. Of course, there are some common themes. One is helping a particularly very accomplished PhD scientists learn how to talk about their idea in a way that resonates with potential investors or potential founding teammates, as opposed to what they've been used to most of their career, which is how to present at an academic conference or an academic environment. Very different things. And that's certainly one area. Another is helping to make connections that help them get their venture off the ground. And that can be connections to investors, people who might be excited about that idea and want to fund the seed round or the Series A to help get the company formed, or connections with people who could become the founding CEO or the founding chief Scientific officer, let's say, or other early employees who can take that idea and run with it. Because if it's a faculty member, they're not going to leave their job at Yale, and we need to find a team that can help them get it off the ground. Or if it's a student, oftentimes it's a more kind of educational experience. And we run a number of programs that complement what our students learn in the classroom to help them learn to become innovators and problem solvers and understand what good next steps in their careers might be. Because the reality is very few of them will become founders right away. Most of them will go get jobs at other companies, large companies, other startups. But help them prepare for their career journey and help them understand that if they do become a founder in the future, how to know when is the right time to do that and how to organize to be successful at that point in time as well.
- [21:29]
A
Given your role in building and developing the innovation ecosystem at Yale, you interact with faculty, scholars. I presume a lot of MBA students from the Yale School of Management would come to you for guidance. Considering the challenges, career challenges in particular, that MBA students face today, whether they are exploring corporate roles or interested in entrepreneurship, and with the tough funding market for new founders, what career advice would you offer them?
- [22:07]
B
There's a few bits of advice I find myself sharing rather commonly. I think first, and probably most importantly, is try to work especially early in your career, for people who you're really inspired by, who you think you can learn a ton from. I think often people chase a specific job rather than opportunity to work with individuals who are really spectacular, who can really help get them going in their careers and really help build their base of knowledge and experiences of the best possible ways to lead organizations or to solve problems. I have definitely been fortunate to work with a lot of incredible people during my career. There's so much you can do as one person if you have the opportunity to work with a lot of great people. Obviously you get a lot more done. So that's one I think a second is we all, when we were young and early in our career, were often very impatient, right? And wanted to as quickly as possible get that next promotion or get that next raise or whatever it might be. And I think it's very important for people to try to keep that instinct in check. But really just focus more than anything else on doing the best possible job that you can in the role that you're in today. And have confidence that if you're part of an organization that's well managed, that good things will naturally flow from that. And just rather than being overly focused on those next steps and milestones, just being really focused on working hard, doing a great job at your current set of responsibilities, seeking out new challenges in that role, and having confidence that as a result of the great work that you'll do, that new challenges and opportunities will present themselves.
- [23:50]
A
Other than specific behavior related advice, what books would you recommend to those who are interested in entrepreneurship or already in entrepreneurship?
- [24:07]
B
There's been a lot, I think if I had to pick out a couple of most influential writers, I think Nassim Tlaib, author of Fooled by Randomness, Black Swire, Antifragile, among some of his more popular books, been very influential on me. He's a person who has a pretty sharp edge and so turns some people off, but I think the underlying kind of writings and intellectual arguments have been very influential in me in terms of thinking about risk and probability, how the World Works Another not necessarily a book, but collection of essays, particularly for people who are interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. I recommend reading. Paul Graham, the famous founder of Y Combinator, has a number of essays published online about innovation entrepreneurship, which I think are just excellent and really worth diving into.
- [25:02]
A
This is the last question of the day and I want you to give me your honest answer. You've had a very successful corporate career, then you joined a startup as a professional CEO, eventually took them into acquisition, then you join the public administration to help them deal with once in a lifetime crisis in human history. Now you are working at one of the most famous universities in the world to build and drive innovation ecosystem. So what else is in your career life that you may want to do in your future? What may be the missing piece? Would it be perhaps at some point you will become a founder to found company, to build it, to scale it on your own?
- [26:01]
B
I think at this point I don't think so clearly, mostly because of the role that I'm in now. I absolutely love and at a successful kind of entrepreneurial startup experience and being in a position where I can give back to others who are just starting that journey is I find incredibly rewarding and challenging, engaging, and I love that aspect of it. In this role now I get to work every day with faculty, with Yale students who are just at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey, who have maybe discovered something in their research or have an idea for how to solve a big problem in the world. And in many cases, these faculty members are the leading scholars in the world in a particular area of scientific research. But very few of them have business experience or startup experience. And so the opportunity that my team and I have to pack in around them and help them and guide them and position them to spin out that technology, build a company around it, attract funding, attract the people, team and give that idea or that invention a chance to have a real impact in the world is so much fun. That's likely to be my life's work from here forward. I think it's unlimited potential of opportunity to learn and to grow and to have impact. So I think that's where my focus will be going forward.
- [27:21]
A
Great, great news for everyone in the Yale innovation community. I really wish we had someone like you around when we were at business school. Josh, thank you so much for your time. Please come back and tell us more about the fungus stories and the innovations activities happening at Yale New Haven in Connecticut. Also upcoming Yale Innovation Summit. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, this is an annual event usually happening in May, and this year will be May 29th and 30th, with Chelsea Clinton as the keynote speaker. Just to clarify, this is not a paid ad. My podcast doesn't do paid promotions at this stage. It's definitely an event worth checking out, especially if you are close to the Yale campus. I hope to make it there myself next year. And Josh, come back to the podcast whenever you have time. You're always welcome here.
- [28:35]
B
I'd be delighted to come back, Vince. It's been fun. Thank you.
- [28:43]
A
Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard? Don't forget, subscribe to our show. Leave us top rated reviews. Check out our website and follow me on social media. I'm this Chen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.