Chief Change Officer
#118 Yale Ventures Managing Director Josh Geballe: Bridging the Academic-Entrepreneurial Divide
Tue, 24 Dec 2024
What compels someone to leave the stability and prestige of a CFO role at IBM Europe for the unknowns of a 16-person startup? For Josh Geballe, it was the thrill of challenge and the promise of making a real impact. His 30-year career reflects this relentless pursuit of meaningful work. From managing finance at IBM to leading Core Informatics as CEO, from VP at Thermo Fisher Scientific to COO of Connecticut’s COVID-19 response, Josh has consistently embraced complex problems with courage and determination. Currently, as Managing Director at Yale Ventures, he is creating pathways for entrepreneurs and innovators, all while continuing to push boundaries. Josh’s journey shows that taking risks and following your instincts can redefine not just a career but an entire industry. Key Highlights of Our Interview: Big Corporate to Small Chaos “Jumping from one of the world’s biggest companies to a 16-person startup was like going from a luxury cruise to a whitewater raft. Every day brought new challenges—chasing customers, closing funding rounds, and ensuring payroll didn’t bounce. It wasn’t for the faint-hearted, but I embraced the chaos because it was exactly the dynamic challenge I craved.” The Two Engines of Growth: Impact and Challenge “My career choices boil down to two drivers: solving meaningful problems that make a positive impact on society and embracing challenges that push me to grow personally and professionally. It’s how I’ve turned a seemingly unusual career journey into a purposeful adventure.” Gut Instinct: The Silent Strategist “For all the logic and strategy in career decisions, sometimes it comes down to a gut feeling. Big moves in my career have often hinged on an instinctual ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and I’ve been fortunate that those instincts have steered me right—no regrets, just leaps of faith.” Bridging the Academic-Entrepreneurial Divide “Helping brilliant minds shift from academic jargon to investor-friendly pitches is a key part of the role. It’s all about connecting ideas to resources—whether that’s investors, teammates, or future opportunities. And for students? It’s about teaching them to innovate and navigate their career paths, with or without a startup dream right now.” _________________________ Connect with Us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Josh Geballe ______________________ --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.18 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1.5% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>170,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: What is Yale Ventures and its role in innovation?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, 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?
It's 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.
A system 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 the press conference. Without further ado, let's dive in.
Great. Thanks, Vince, for having me. I'm delighted to be here. As you point out, I started at Yale as an undergraduate, worked for a few years, went back to Yale to the School of Management to get an MBA, and then spent the majority of my career in the technology industry, so initially 11 years at IBM.
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Chapter 2: What motivated Josh to shift from IBM to a startup?
I mean, the corporate ladder, a number of different roles and 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, cloud software as a service for scientists and grew that company.
Over a number of years, ultimately, we're acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of the major global scientific tools companies. Worked there for a couple of 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 he 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 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 I'll talk about that more, but that's my journey in a nutshell.
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Chapter 3: What are the main drivers behind Josh's career decisions?
I spoke with our classmate Irina in an earlier 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 things, self-starter and curiosity.
Before we dive deeper into each phase of your career, what have been your main drivers for exploring and trying new things over the past 20 years?
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 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 maybe weave together what would otherwise look like a rather unusual career journey that I've been on.
You've got a strong background in astrology from your education at Yale, then as astrology consultant at IBM, diving deep into business strategies with solid logic. But when it comes to something more personal, such as career decisions, career moves, it seems like even for analytical minds like ours, there's a need to balance logic with psychology.
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Chapter 4: How does gut instinct influence career choices?
If I have to use an economic term, it is about finding equilibrium between the two. Have you encountered any mental hurdles while trying to decide on a Korean 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?
Yeah, it's a 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 ultimately I think it was each of these big changes. It was just following my gut instinct. I think at each step, when opportunities presented themselves, I just pretty quickly would come to an instinct on whether it was a good idea or not.
And I 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 and say, I wish I'd done that differently. It's been very fortunate that it's served me well so far.
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?
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Josh face transitioning to a startup?
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'd come to the conclusion that I didn't want to spend my entire career there. I think that was clearly a path in that direction. And a lot of the people I worked with had
worked there their entire career and 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 to last job I had at IBM, it 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.
I bet you must have experienced a lot of cultural shock in this transition.
Sure. I think that transition was, as you probably expect, rather dramatic. 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 a 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. 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.
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Chapter 6: How did Josh navigate the COVID-19 response in Connecticut?
very all-consuming. You can look back afterwards at a successful outcome and embrace that as part of the journey. But it's certainly anyone who's worked at a startup or a growing small company knows it's every day is this new challenge and a new opportunity to learn and to grow.
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?
Sure. Yeah. When I joined the administration, the Lamont administration at the beginning, the real or 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. 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 states. I had all the other commissioners reporting to me. And I was at 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 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 he is serving him and this kind of broad set of stakeholders we brought together.
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 the kind of public perception that overall the state of Connecticut did a solid job of balancing many of the competing conditions.
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 and other areas around the country and the world. It was hopefully something I'll never have to experience again. I think you guys probably feel that way.
But at the same time, a period of my career I'm definitely proud of.
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Chapter 7: What lessons were learned during the COVID-19 pandemic?
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?
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.
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 and 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 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 healthcare 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 to help advise us through that was a real important part. And then operations too, we had the benefit of
marshalling 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 procure or deploy, whether it's testing or PPE or vaccines or whatever the challenge of the day 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're engaging with a wide range of groups. What is your approach to managing these multi-stickholder relationships?
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