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Today's episode is sponsored by Tapeworks. Tapeworks is a staple in Connecticut. If you haven't heard of it, what are you doing? They've been around for over 30 years helping creators, musicians, businesses, and podcasters bring their stories to life through high quality production. Connecticut Unfiltered is proudly filmed and produced at Tapeworks in Hartford, Connecticut.

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This is the voice behind the Reheated Coffee Club, the Instagram page with 50 plus thousand followers, sharing our state's hidden treasures in the little moment that can make life magical.

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If Connecticut's been showing up on your feed lately, that's not an accident. The Virgin your grandparents remember is long gone. This isn't a drive-thru state anymore, it's a destination. And on this podcast, we talk to the people making that happen. This is Connecticut Unfiltered. And today we are joined by the one and only Josh Gabal. Am I saying your last name correct? Because I've heard two things.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Jabal. I've heard Jabal, I've heard Gabal.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And so I was told I needed to ask what your preference is.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Jabal.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Jabal, okay. He is the managing director of Yale Ventures and one of the key people behind the Yale Innovation Summit. From tech startups to state government, Josh has spent years helping turn big ideas into real impact here in Connecticut. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So what got what brought you from like Ned Lamont's office to starting up in Yale and this innovation world and startups? Talk to me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Well, this is really more back to where I've spent most of my career. So most of my career is in the tech industry. Yeah. Both at big companies, like I worked at IBM for a while, and did a software startup myself that we grew. Ultimately were acquired by Thermo Frisure Scientific, another huge scientific tools company. So the state government thing was a bit of an unusual detour. Yeah. I was uh I the my startup company, the second round of investment that we raised was from Annie Lamont. Uh so I got to know her first, actually, the governor's wife, who's an incredible tech investor. And um once he got elected, she reached out and uh convinced me to uh to join the administration. But at that point I had seen, you know, I'd gotten to know the governor a little bit, like listening to him during the campaign and saw a lot of the people he was bringing into his administration, and it seemed like an amazing opportunity. So coming back to Yale was more kind of returning to what I've historically done, which is help technology companies grow, uh, be successful, bring products to market that can help people.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

So when you were working in government or in state and local politics, were you kind of like itching to get back into this like tech world?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Aaron Ross Powell Well, I figured I would do it eventually. Um, when I was in it, it was pretty all consuming. If you remember, like this, this I was up there for three years in Hartford. The second two of those three years were COVID. So, you know, we didn't have a lot of time to think about anything else back then. Like every day was some new crisis we had to respond to or deal with. Um so uh I wasn't thinking about it much. I just assumed in the long run, you know, I would I knew I wasn't gonna stay in state government forever and I'd go back to uh being involved in startups somehow.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah. I mean, I think Gale's very happy to have you back and working in this in this crazy world. Um so what what's catching your attention this year at the summit? Like what are you finding is most enticing to you and what you feel like is really making gonna be making a big impact?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Oh gosh. Uh where to begin? I I the hardest part about the summit for me is at any point in time, there's simultaneously like six different things I wish I could be at at the same time. So I'm not sure how to answer that question.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

I I feel the same thing walking around yesterday. I'm like, wait, I want to go here. I want to go here too.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah. Well, a couple years ago we started recording, you know, recording video of all the sessions now. So now there's a YouTube channel, like when you miss stuff, you can go back, and I spend a good chunk of my summer like going back and watching the recordings of all the sessions I've done. Oh, that's awesome. Um, but this year, um, let's see, there's uh and the pitch competitions are always my favorite. Like the main reason we do this is honestly because there's so many incredible entrepreneurs in Connecticut, as you know. Um there's a lot of amazing technology coming out of the labs at Yale. There's um entrepreneurs from UConn and all around the state. And we want to help them get exposure. And these pitch competitions bring together investors who travel in here from literally all around the world, but in particular the big you know, startup centers in Boston and New York and San Francisco. And so the pitch competitions are great because you just get to see founders get up and talk about their ideas, the traction they've achieved so far, hear the questions from the investors, here's what's on their hear what's on their mind, and then hear the stories later about the connections that were made and the investments that came out of that. Um that's really the primary goal here, and that's what gets me most excited, I think, is uh hearing all those pitches.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

What I find fascinating about the pitches too, completely aside from the student pitches, is that some of these founders are as young as like 23, 24 years old.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

And it's incredible to see what they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Even younger. Like we have we have undergrads, freshmen and sophomore, who are showing up in our office with incredible ideas who now, especially with AI, have been at this for years since they were like in middle school, building incredible things. So there's uh it's really the the the breadth of and and on the other end, we have people who are very deep in their career, maybe worked at some big company for a long time, but now are taking the next step and wanting to found a company or do something new. It's one of the fun things about this, is it's really spans the whole spectrum of ages, backgrounds, experiences. Really fun.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Speaking of AI, did you uh test drive the self-driving Tesla?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

So I actually own one. Um and it drives 96% of the miles that I drive on the highway now. It actually keeps track of it. So I was blown away. It's it's pretty amazing. Like if if you some people love driving. So not I. I'd rather do email, read. I mean, I'm probably not supposed to say this, but like you do you are supported.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

It puts you in time out if you're not looking. Like you get strike.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah, well, you know, you can put your sunglasses down, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

It's the Okay, we're learning how to beat the system.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

I'm gonna get in trouble for this. But uh it's yeah, it's an amazing product. Uh so yeah, it's nice of them to s to provide transportation and uh be here to support the event.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

No, there's a lot of really cool sponsors here this year, and just yeah, a lot of really cool innovation. I've been talking and meeting so many cool people who are doing things from making things more accessible for like children with disabilities to like changing climate problems. Like this really has been like a hub for just innovation that's gonna make the world a better place. And that's that's probably a really good feeling to be part of that and part of that story.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Absolutely. And in fact, it's one of the reasons I came back to Yale to do this role is almost all of the research at Yale and our labs is focused on solving problems that really matter for the world. So a lot of what we do here is develop new uh therapeutics, new drugs that can treat cancer, Alzheimer's, all these terrible uh diseases that, you know, despite all the innovation, the progress we make in society, we all know we still have a lot to learn about how the human body functions and how to treat and cure diseases. And there's a billion dollars of research going on here in New Haven every year focused on solving those problems. And we get to help those people take those ideas and translate them out into startup companies or partnerships with big industry where they can get the investment they need to see if it can turn into something useful. And then like in our engineering school, we've got researchers developing new sources of um clean energy, uh ways to remediate PFAS, um, protect the planet. Uh we have an incredible group working on quantum computing, which is going to be the next big transformational wave after AI, I think, that really increases the computational power we have access to to solve some of these big problems, including figuring out human biology and how to cure diseases. So it's very fun to help those people who are just focusing their life's work on solving these big issues that really matter for humanity and hopefully getting some of those technologies, you know, out to patients, out to the world.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, and I think it's really interesting that you talk about how you guys are finding and you're you're you're you are encouraging these students who are in these programs and finding new drugs and new resources to cure things like cancer or things that are going on in the body, and that's something that's gonna give a lot of people hope because we are currently under an administration that's cutting funding. Yeah. And so having investors and people coming in that are like, no, we want to find these. And if if our government, our our in the bigger picture is not gonna take care of it, a big pharma's not, well, like maybe we can. And that's that's a really cool sentiment. I think that's I think that's something that people don't realize is happening in Connecticut, and a really cool conversation to have about like what's going on in this state.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

I mean, we count on the federal government in a big way, the country does, right, to fund basic research that over time can be developed into these technologies that people will invest in. So we can't minimize that. But it is uh it is uh an incredible community here in Connecticut of organizations that support each other and find ways to um invest in these technologies. And it starts with Governor Lamont and his team, and they were here all day yesterday, and they're supporting our efforts in so many ways, and we're collaborating with UConn on a bunch of things, and you know, you can you can feel it as you walked around yesterday, right? Like one of the things that's great about the startup world is there is that optimism, right? The people who are here are problem solvers, they're risk takers, they are not going to be deterred by whatever the headline is in the paper today or whatever crisis is going on. They're playing the long game, and uh and those are fun people to work with and to support.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

It's always fun to be around positivity, you know. There's we are so deeply rooted in like negativity and headlines and what's going wrong with the world. And then you come to a summit like this and you're only filled with like hope. And it's really exciting to think about what the future could be rather than what you know problems we're currently living in. Because all of these people here, they want to make change. And no invention here is bad. There are some that might just have better pitches or be better for the current situation of where an investor is at the moment. Um but speaking of pitches, what do you find is a pitch that will actually win a prize or get funding versus someone who might not make it? Is it more just timing or is it actual storytelling? Or what is a successful pitch in your eyes?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Yeah, well, there's I mean, there's there's no one right answer to this, right? I've seen people um be successful from different strategies, different angles, but there's always a few common ingredients. Like investors are really interested in the entrepreneur, right? Like what's their story? Why are they focused on this problem? Do they have some background here? Do they have some real passion for this issue? Are they really committed to this startup company and they really want to make it their their life, their life's work for the next decade or more? Yeah. Um, so that's really important. And and start and founders who are, like you said, good storytellers who can can explain to people, get them excited about the problem that they're solving and what their potential solution is. That goes a long way. Investors also want to know that um the problem that's being solved is is a is a big one, it's an important one, right? They're investors, so they want to put money in and make a return. The odds are they're gonna have a better chance of doing that if the if the product or the the company is solving some big problem in a big market that gives them an opportunity for that. And then they want they're interested in the technology. Like, what is it this person's doing that's really innovative? Like, what is different about this technology, this idea that someone else couldn't copy or um that's gonna cause this person to have an advantage to get through what is a really challenging field of competition, right? To to win. Um, so those are some of the things that uh that that are the common elements I'd say of successful pitches.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah. Um, have you seen something this year or some things that have really stood out to you that you're like, wow, this is this is really special. Like they have something really cool going on.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, you know, I've been bouncing around uh some of the pitch competitions. Many of them are still going on today. Yeah. I've seen some really great technology. I I hesitate to name any favorite children because I support them all. I want them all to have a chance to succeed. Um, but I will say, um, you know, yesterday we saw some of the Blavotnik Fund. This is a and one of the accelerators we run at Yale Ventures. It's called the Blavotnik Fund that's focused on developing therapeutics. A lot of very novel, very innovative science being presented that had a lot of the investors there really excited about some you know potential breakthrough approaches to some some of the you know worse diseases that we're struggling to find good treatments for today. So it's very exciting. Today we're gonna hear pitches for in the health track, um in the um in the tech track. So we're gonna we're gonna see some really exciting stuff today as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

It's also the student pitches today, and I'm really excited for those because I I just I'm so fascinated and so impressed with these kids who have these big ideas and are not afraid to make a splash.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Totally. And what's cool, one I mean, there's a lot of pluses and minuses about AI, right? Like we have to be sober about that. But one of the real pluses is um it makes it easier than ever for students, young people in general, or really anybody who has an idea, who has a passion to do to solve a problem, to build something that can actually make a difference there. And you know, students in particular, we're seeing them do amazing work in very short amount of time, you know, using some of these really powerful AI tools. And I think you'll see a lot of that in some of those pitches.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Oh yeah, no, I mean I saw a lot of it yesterday as well. Do you feel like businesses, if they're not kind of adapting into this AI world that they're gonna fall behind?

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Yeah, I mean, that was definitely one of the themes yesterday. I think we've kind of been seeing that a lot. And uh, you know, that the keynote panel yesterday, uh, I think uh, you know, that was one of the most important themes. Is this the these sets of tools are uh are really the next wave. They are they are already incredibly powerful and they're only gonna get better and better at a really fast rate. And so you need to be leaning into this technology wave and taking advantage of it and staying current on it as much as possible. Yeah. Um, because it will help you, you know, with whatever the challenges you're trying to solve. It'll get you there faster. And also uh all your competitors are gonna be doing that, or you should assume they are. Um so there is the risk of falling behind if you're not out on that front curve.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

So the there you also did an arts track this year, which I think is amazing because I'm a big proponent and advocate for the arts. Um how do you feel about AI in the art space?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, it's interesting. Um it's not an area where I have a lot of expertise, but um, a lot of the people who I look to who are really smart in that space, um, you know, are optimistic that it will it can be a tool to help them, particularly like on the business side of the arts world, thinking about how to build um arts assets that are um you know that ensure that the economic benefit of that comes back to the artist, right? And is not lost to somewhere else. Uh and and doing that in a way that's scalable and um enables the artist to focus on what they're really good at and not have to worry about some of the other aspects of of um the business side of things. Um I don't know. I one of the themes we heard yesterday too is like thinking about what are the things that AI are gonna be a little more AI proof in the future, perhaps. And you know, those real life experiences, right? Performances, concerts, um, original works of art. Um I think there's some amount of optimism that you know we're gonna continue to value those things um even when AIs are you know making some substitutes somehow. There's something about the human input and the and the the the passion and the the unique aspects of an artist's talents that go into something like that that I I think will endure.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, I think that um especially in the marketing world, I've seen a lot of pushback with people who are using like AI for flyers or AI for anything artistic. Yeah. Because it does take away that humanistic element of it, that we are all flawed beings. And sometimes what makes art so beautiful is that like imperfection. Yeah. And that's not something AI AI is meant to be perfection.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Yeah. I don't know about you, but like if if I'm on social media or something and I see something that looks like like AI slop, like I'm immediately past that, right? Like not interested. Yeah. I mean, it'll get cl harder and harder to distinguish, distinguish between them. But still, like I I want to know, like, yeah, there's a real person there who's put some thought into this and is an interesting human being and look what can we learn about that?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah, so it's interesting. It's almost like caution with with the arts, but like absolutely welcomed in like the tech world. Like you wouldn't scroll past something in like a tech world that necessarily you knew was using AI, you're like, of course you are. Yeah. Like this makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yeah, I think it's very domain specific. It's very um specific to like what is it that you're trying to learn about. Like if it's just trying to like collect a bunch of information to still it down to some digestible set of facts, right? Like AI is really good at that. I don't really care if a human did that or AI did that. But if it's um an interpretation, if it's fiction, if it's art, if it's um something where you want to know like that special human touch, maybe less so.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah. Um how have you found that the summit has changed through the years?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Well, for the summits, so this is our twelfth year doing this. Um for the first nine years of the summit, it was just a biotech conference, actually. So again, most of the research enterprise at Yale is focused on life sciences, and so it was really focused on that. Three years ago, we decided we were gonna really expand it. Uh, we wanted to ensure we were welcoming in innovation from across the whole university. And so, in addition to an amazing medical school that's doing all this cutting-edge biomedical research, we have uh, you know, an amazing school of engineering, we've got the best drama school and school of art and uh school of music in the in the country. Um, we've got amazing climate research going on here, we've got people who are working on AI applications and how to improve healthcare and so many other areas. And we wanted to make sure all those people felt welcome as well. So that's three years ago, we expanded this now to the six tracks that we have, including not just biotech, but uh health, climate, uh civic innovation focused on public sector innovation. How can we improve cities and communities, um, arts and tech as well? And so now, as you see, when you walk around, this is not a biotech conference anymore. We've got someone in the courtyard painting this enormous, beautiful mural, and we've got uh so many different There's like a creator marketplace on the fourth floor.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

There's like there's so much going on.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah, yeah, it's fun. So we want it, we want it to also be fun, right? We want part of what gets people coming back to events like this, I think, is if they have a good experience. Obviously, if you're an investor, you want to get see deal flow, you want to see pitches. Sure. Um, but you want to meet people too, and you want to have fun, you want to be entertained, you want good food, all that stuff. So we're focused on all those details.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Did you see the dome projection?

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Yeah, I was there last night.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

It was incredible.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah, it was wild. Um I've never done psychedelics, but I would imagine like if I were to, uh that's probably I would imagine that's what the experience would feel like.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

We were joking that there should be like a fine fettle or happy confection like booth right outside because it like paired very well. But it was it very much was reminiscent to me of like planetariums. We would go in high school up in Miami, and they would have like these huge laser light performances, and it was it was very impressive. But I think all of that encompassing with the summit, like there's there's arts, there's tech, there's health, like there's all the tracks is what is really what's making this such a positive experience, and we'll get people to come come back. And um, yeah, I've I think this is this is an incredible summit. And I've I've heard people talk about how it's better than ones they've been to in San Francisco, which is nice very cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah, well, here we are, Connecticut, we're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

I think Connecticut is like America's best kept secret.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

100%. And you know, the other thing that's fun about this is you know, the the attendees here, there's a lot of Yale alums who, you know, were here for college, moved away, come back for this, and they're blown away, right? Like they they don't recognize New Haven, it's how it's grown, all the incredible restaurants.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

You've got a big sense of pride, too.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Totally, totally. And you know, it's just the city's beautiful, it's thriving, and you know, you get to see all these incredible kinetic entrepreneurs, and so it's uh it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

So um I'll ask one more question, and then I know you're a busy man, let you go. But um, where do you see the summit going in the next like five, ten years? Where are you hoping that it grows?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Oh, good question. We have uh we have some ideas up our sleeves of you know, okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

You got any exclusives you want to throw in?

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Not yet, not yet. I don't want to roll anything out until we decide uh what we're gonna do. But we do value um, you know, a lot of the ideas of things we've added in the past come from suggestions we get from people. So if you have ideas or any of your audience, uh you got a huge audience of really smart creative people. Like if you have suggestions, uh let us know. We're always eager to hear uh new ideas. Um so we'll we'll see. But it's it grows every year about at least 10%. You know, every year is we're gonna have over 3,000 people this year. Um so but we have room to expand, you know. Like Yale's campus is huge. We're we're marching our way across it with all the buildings we need to bring into play now to contain this event or to host this event. But um uh we'll keep growing for sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited for next year and the following years and to see where it goes. And maybe I'll see you here in the podcast room next year.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Sounds great. I'd love to.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Thank you so much for being here on Connecticut Unfiltered. And um have a great rest of your day. And I hope you find some incredible pitches that inspire you today.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Great. Thanks. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Thank you. Welcome in Laurman Carmedy. She is our second guest of the day with uh Connecticut Unfiltered. Um, and Lauren is the CMO at Connecticut Innovations. She's a huge part of the branding and messaging behind Connecticut's startup and innovation world, including events like the Yale Innovation Summit. So we are so lucky to have you here today. Thank you for having the conversation.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Thanks for inviting me. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah, Anthony was like, I got a girl. She's so cool. And then I talked to you on the phone, I'm like, I get it. She is cool. Well, I'm thrilled to be here. So talk to me a little bit about when you got involved with the summit.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

Yeah. So, I mean, we've been involved for the summit for years now. And I remember when we first got involved, you know, they asked us to come in as a lead sponsor, and we always said we sponsor nothing. Like, so we we make really judicial. Decisions about who we're gonna like give our dollars to. We have very few dollars. And so we sat as a team, we discussed it, and we decided this is a place that can kind of convene so many different people. And we don't have the ability to do it on our own. So we said, you know what? We're gonna sponsor this one event per year, and this is the one, and it has just grown and grown. Tracks, you know, industries. You know, now people ask us, they come to us. We used to give out tickets, and we we used to say, Hey, do you want to come? And now they're asking us to kind of come because it has grown so much over the years. So I would say in the last five years, we have seen this like monumental shift, like in in who comes and who wants to come. We can invite people from out of state, they want to be part of it. It's just been a huge growth and a great story for Connecticut.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

And that's largely due to marketing as well and like getting the word out there.

SPEAKER_04 22:54

Well, I mean, I think that's one of the problems that Connecticut has always had, right? I mean, I think we're our own worst critics in Connecticut. Sure. Like we had been, and then, you know, Anthony got involved with the state and he said, take a look at what we have to offer. We're always beating ourselves up a little bit. We're hard on you know ourselves. And then he was like, take a look at everything we have here, and let's, you know, really double down on that. And so that's what we've done, and I think it has definitely benefited the state. I know sitting at CI, our number of leads has gone up, the number of companies that want to come into Connecticut has come up. So I think all of that is like partially due to the summit. I really, I really believe that that has helped the state grow.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

So Connecticut Innovations is not going anywhere with the summit. You guys are like sympathy. Oh, we're in. We're in.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

And honestly, it is a team effort. So, you know, like their team, GL Ventures team and and CI work together so closely anyway. We have for years. Right. This is just another example of how we work together.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

It's kind of funny when you talk about how Connecticut is so hard on themselves. Yeah. Because we were talking about motherhood before the podcast started. It's almost like the best moms are the ones that are afraid that they're doing it wrong. And I feel like that's Connecticut in a nutshell. Absolutely. Because the other states that are like, we're the best, like objectively or not. Yeah. Because Connecticut is like the mama.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

And I think that we we want so much for Connecticut, and I think we're starting to see some of those things. I would say the growth of biotech in in New Haven is incredible. Like we have a portfolio at CI we have a portfolio of 250 companies, right? So we invest in companies that are looking to grow here in the state. And we always say we're investing for a return, so that's what we want to do first and foremost. Um, but we're also investing to grow jobs in Connecticut. And we have never seen such, like, there's so much talent here.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

And we've been able to grow that over the years, but it's because of things like this that bring everyone together and say, like, hey, you know, you have something going on here. And we said 10 years ago. If you looked at us 10 years ago, you'd look at like the number of companies around here and you'd say, if I lost my job today, I maybe wouldn't have a place to go tomorrow. Now, fast forward to now, you can go anywhere. There are places to go, there are companies coming up, they're building here. Yeah, and I think that's so special, and we're having a moment and it feels good. Would you say that Connecticut is like a hub for innovation? I would say now it is. Actually, oh, I have a great story on this one. Please. All right, so I would say that same time frame, eight to ten years ago, we sat down and I remember it was when Matt McCui, our CEO, first joined, and he wanted to kind of like do a focus group. And we did it in New Haven, and we said, you know, we're gonna ask some hard questions, let's figure out what we're doing wrong. And one of the questions that we asked the whole group, and these were leaders in the industry, these were leaders in biotech companies. And we sat down and we said, Can Connecticut be a hub for innovation? And literally everyone said no.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Wow. Everyone said look at us now.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

But I but that was us being our own worst critics, right? We had the opportunity there, but like we just didn't have everything wasn't coming together. And I think fast forward, you have some big exits, right? Like we've had a year like no other. We've had Halda Therapeutics, you know, being acquired for three billion dollars by JJ. You have Veridermax, you know, IPOing and having like the best IPO, you know, that we've seen in ages. So I think those things are starting to put us on the map, literally, and you know, like really spending a lot of time. And these companies are growing and and and doing really, really well. And it helps our brand. I mean, and that's what makes us feel so good is like, you know, you have a couple big wins, you put us on the map, and then people are saying, hey, look what's going on here.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

I mean, it helps everything, it helps tourism, it helps the housing market because people want to be a part of this growing innovation hub. And now that Connecticut is kind of becoming a hotspot for that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

It's now we'll have to deal with some housing issues. Yeah, Annie Lamont spoke with Matt yesterday, and she was saying, I think some of our biggest problems in Connecticut are related to housing. There's not enough. And so we'll have to we'll have to deal with that and figure that piece out, but I think we will.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

I think there's enough innovators here that they can figure out a solution. Absolutely. So with Connecticut now becoming this like really cool and exciting hub for innovation, specifically like New Haven, how do you see the summit evolving in the next couple years?

SPEAKER_04 27:18

I I mean there's so many little pockets. I remember sitting down um with Tim Omstrup, and when we talked about it, he had said, Hey, can you do a like a pre-summit event? And I remember this was a couple years back, and he's like, There's nothing that goes on the day before, and people fly in or people come in. Yeah. He's like, why don't you do that? And we we we did it a couple years ago, and I was kind of light, I would say like, you know, 40 people or something, and it was really fun. It had like a vibe, so it felt good. And then like fast forward to today, and we had, you know, we had a close registration for it. We had, you know, 200 people registered for the event, and like this is just the day before, and this is our ecosystem. It wasn't everybody, it was our ecosystem of people. We wanted to limit it to like you know, companies in the ecosystem, and so you start to feel like okay, we're having a moment again here. You're having a moment where you're feeling a vibe, people want to be here and they want to come in early. So Tim's vision was always this that there would be little offshoots, right? Like you would see at some of those bigger conferences where like people are having little like side meetings, and I see all of those things happening. I mean, he can sit back and say, you know, look, we've done such a good job. Josh can sit back and say, Well, look at what we've done here because it's been so good. And I think the growth will be an industry. I think you know, bringing in our arts and culture that's such a huge move for them. And it feels really good. And I honestly, we have art in our space. We had done when we first came to New Haven, we moved from Rocky Hill, our headquarters, to New Haven, and that was like about six years ago. When we did that, I said, we can't be in New Haven without having a piece of culture here. That's why we want to bring people into our space, and we can't do that without bringing in like artists. So we brought in artists, we gave them like spots that they would like complete artwork. We had a muralist who's here today.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Please, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Yeah, so we brought in all of these artists in, and now we have this wonderful relationship with them, and I feel like that's part of being in New Haven, right? Like, I feel like you have that, you have those relationships with artists and food and culture, and it's all here. And I think that more of that will evolve over time. Like, I think that's what you're gonna see. You're gonna see more little offshoots, more little side parties, networking events, that type of thing, and then the growth of more industries within. And like quantum and AI will help with all of that, right? And we'll start to see that build out a little bit more. I'd love to see it grow in defense tech to see like some of our bigger we have tons, right? Like, so we have Sikorski, we have Sikorsky, we have Electric Boat, we have all these companies here who are looking to hire. So they should have a presence here, and then we'll probably try to fund those companies at some point, right? The smaller companies kind of wanting to start up here and grow here.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

And it's it's kind of cool, those like smaller, more intimate events, because people who maybe shy away from these like huge, like 3,000 people summits, like it can be overwhelming. So coming to like maybe a pre-summit event and starting your networking then is like really beneficial for more like a nice warm-up, right?

SPEAKER_04 30:22

Yeah, like it's like it's like a nice way in. You can have a nice conversation, like, and you're trying to maybe meet with 20 people, not like 200 people in a day. And I think the more that you make a big event feel small, the better it will be. Yeah. And I think Tim and Josh and and the teammate and Michelle are all trying to do that, and I think they've done a really good job, and I think we'll see more of that in the future.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

And there's lots of cute little kitschy things that I've noticed around the summit this year. This is my first year here, so I can't speak to if it's always been like this. But like, even these little like tags that you can put on this one says open to selfies. Like, that's adorable. I love it. It just makes it feel a lot more approachable and less just like, oh, I'm a little intimidated, I don't necessarily understand all of this jargon. I shouldn't go there. Like it it feels like a welcoming place that it kind of anyone can go to.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Which is what Connecticut is all about. So like it feels very appropriate for us to do. I don't think we should put on a big conference that looks like a big conference. Yeah. I think we should put on a conference that feels very unconferencey, that makes it feel small. Yeah. The way Connecticut is. I mean, I wa, you know, I think Governor Lamont has always said, like, we're the one phone phone call state, right? In one phone call, you can get to who you need to get to. And I think that still holds true no matter how much growth we've had. I think we're still a tight-knit community that can find one another. And we do that here.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

So I think it has worked really really well for everyone. I agree with that. Um, have you been sitting into some of the like pitch decks and stuff? Yeah, so we have a few companies. Some of our companies are here now.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

Um, I think we have almost 12 companies in our portfolio and they're new. Or we use we actually use the summit a little differently this year where we had companies that were leads, right? Like, so we haven't invested yet and we wanted to see what they looked like and we wanted to see what the appetite was. Um, so we have companies coming in that we're considering that really love Connecticut, and we're using it kind of as like a you know, hop on stage and see what you can do here. Yeah, it's like a trial run. Yeah. And it's also honestly for us, it's us putting our best foot forward, right? Like, look at what we can put you in front of and the group we, you know, we can assemble together.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

It's very cool that Connecticut is doing this summit and it's driving people in from all over the country, even other countries as well, because not only is it showing the innovation and just ideas and willingness to do the things that people maybe aren't wanting to tackle because they're afraid, but it's also bringing in money to the state.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

And like it's just like I I I was telling this to Josh, but I was talking to people yesterday that's saying this summit's better than ones I've been to in San Francisco, this summit's better than ones I've been to in Massachusetts, and it's really cool that Connecticut is doing it here too.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

100%. I said like yesterday there was a panel full of like our exits, which was really fun for us. It was biotech healthcare exits, and we had all the founders and CEOs of like four of like the biggest ones that we've had over time. Um, they sat on stage and Kevin Rocco from BioRes, who's amazing for a million reasons, but he delivered a nice exit one, which is good for you know us, good for the state. But he also talked about like the expansion of Tweed and said, you know, like what we really are missing is like a place for people to easily get in and out of. And I think once we solve that problem, and he said he's working, you know, there's obviously a bit of approval for the expansion of Tweed. Um, he said, once New Haven gets that, I feel like it will be a game changer. And I agree with him. I think if we make it easier, if like you know, the train situation, which is wonderful, yeah, but make it welcoming. And I know they're working on that in New New Haven. I think they're doing such a great job of laying out plans to make it so welcoming. Like get people, you know, coming in from the city, easy to get off the train, easy to pop over here, you know, give them an airport for so they could take a quick flight and make it in a day and not make it like a three-day trip because affordable.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Yeah, affordable.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Yeah, and I think that'll be a game changer for us too. So that development would be a huge one for the state.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Yeah. Um talking a little bit more about the summit and people who might want to attend or just hearing about it for the first time, maybe finding it on this podcast for the first time. Who do you feel like is the perfect person to attend the summit?

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Oh, there's so many, but I'll cover it in a couple different ways. One, I think it's the entrepreneur that has a company that's looking to grow, maybe looking to share early ideas, right? So, like almost like a, you know, like guinea pig the idea or like gut test it, you know, among a group of like incredibly bright individuals, right? So you have the entrepreneur who's looking to kind of grow. It would be nice if it would be in Connecticut. I'll do a nice Connecticut plug, but anywhere. Right. We could get you. We're getting the housing problem solved. Exactly. Um, but like the entrepreneurs, the investors, we invite investors in. This is such a premier event for investors. So for our network, we have a we have um at CI, we have 19 different funds that we've invested in. So we invite them all to come in. Um, and I think it's a great place for investors to look at like up and coming, you know, tech and biotech and all across all industries, climate tech. Um, and then honestly, I think curious people do very well here. You can have a conversation yesterday. I probably I don't know, I probably met with like 100, 200 people, all different, so fun. I think like curious people do very well in this setting. And then I would say like just members of the like you know, the legislature is here, so people who are looking to make change in Connecticut, I think it's a good fit for them as well. And there we see students all the time. We bring in our interns quite a bit, so like we think it's just an exciting thing for you know our interns to see. But I think anyone who has that drive or ambition or is intellectually curious would do incredibly well here.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

How do investors like get on board and find out about the summit? And how are you like targeting them and people who can fund these projects?

SPEAKER_04 36:20

So we had said like one, Yale, the you know, Yale Ventures does a great job of bringing these people in. They have great speakers, which attracts the investors in. Right. So bring in a really good, strong keynote and like some great panel presentations and great companies to pitch on stage. That is like a recipe for success. For us, it's not a very hard sell. So when we go out to our investor groups and we say, like, hey, you're in New York or you're in Boston, you know, come in for the day. Right. But I think the key is making it something where we're gonna set up something on the side or something in advance to sit down with you, make it comprehensive, don't make it just come to the conference, give them a path, and I think they will come. And that has worked, you know, over the last couple of years. We were fine-tuning every year and enhancing and leveling up a little bit, and I think that's helped too. But investors seem very driven to come here anyway. We don't have to do a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

How just specifically from this year to last year, do you see a massive growth?

SPEAKER_04 37:18

Yeah, so what I said, I actually had this conversation with the L Ventures yesterday, and I said in years past, getting tech companies here has been a challenge. Okay, and that's before they really grew out all the tracks, right? So getting our tech companies, I think uh years ago, they wanted tech companies to pitch, it's when they were looking looking to expand the the tracks, and so we did it, and they were like, ah, there's not enough for us here. And then if you look at today, like all those companies are asking me if they can come. So, like, you know, there's been a shift and we've noticed it and we've seen it, and I think it's so exciting to see it for the summit that like those companies that were like, I don't know if I want to go, and now they're the first ones to approach me to say, like, hey, can we have tickets to go?

SPEAKER_01 38:06

That's really cool. From a marketing perspective, are you like jumping on the the companies, like these tech companies, and like now like kind of targeting that since there's like this major interest?

SPEAKER_04 38:16

Yeah, and I think every year I sit down and I say, How could we do it different? How could we do it better? And I think like you the summit does such a good job of that that like I'm always trying to like stay one step ahead, and they're always like three steps ahead of me. So what I'm trying to do is I'm riding their coattails a little bit using like the strength of the summit and then allowing it to actually we look good together, right? Like I think Tim Opstrap always says, like rising tides, right? Like we're gonna do well together if we come together, and that's what we've been able to do.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

I love that. Um, so what's something that you'd love to see added to the summit that hasn't come to fruition yet?

SPEAKER_04 38:55

All right, so I I saw this year they did because we're known for culture, and I think that business and culture, there's like such a nice intersection there. There was like a little mini, I did not attend it. I think it was small, there was some kind of Jubilee or like concert or something like that. I think bringing in entertainment elements to the summit in a bigger way would make it great. I think, like, you know, um, my husband works for Gartner in Connecticut, and he he is an analyst, so he goes to a lot of Gartner conferences. They literally put on like concerts and they do so much. I think some element, and it doesn't have to be big. I'm not talking like it has to be 3,000 people, have to be in the same place. I actually think lots of small ones, which is much more New Haven-esque. Bring in lots more entertainment and then have people do some kind of like tour around the city. That's cool. Like, I think that kind of thing where you're let's not do what other people have done, let's, you know, forge our own path and like let's see what we can do there. But I think bringing in more of an element of entertainment, we always say the best business doesn't help happen around this table, right? Like the most business does not happen here. It's when you're riding an e-bike, it's when you're hiking, you know, East Rock, it's it's when you're doing other things. And I think they're starting to do some of those things. And I'd love to. They had the the chasers. Yeah, the front, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

They had the chaser, they the dome, the immersive, like there is so at they're handing out the chasers for those of you who have not attended the summit this year, and it has a little bit of history about New Haven, and then it's all these different places that you can get like specials or free items or buy one get one, and it's just a kind of like a passport.

SPEAKER_04 40:39

I would say that's my favorite new ad is that item, and I think we can start to see a little bit more of that in the future. I mean, I know like DECD came in and they have that interactive like section where you're looking at like the things that Connecticut has to offer, and there's so much innovation, and we're so deep in that, like you know, we have a history of innovation here, so it's easy to show us off. Yeah, and I think bringing all those things together while still maintaining a very small intimate feel is going to be the biggest challenge for the summit movie.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

We're not thinking of Yelchella, we're not gonna do a big music festival. We wanna have some intimate, but I think that's small. Music is something that people from all tracks can relate to each other on. And I think that that, like you said, business happens there when you're letting your guard down a little, listening in a way that maybe you wouldn't have normally listened. You're open to new ideas, you're in a good place mentally, and I I think that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Yeah, and I think like, you know, there's the what is it? It's like the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. Like I feel like it happens in, and I could have gone, I could have butch butchered the name on it, but it's in New Haven and it is centered around like arts and performances and that type of thing. Bring those two things together, absolutely, and I think you have like a home run there. And I think we've started to do some of those things. So I think, you know, like I I see it bubbling up. I'm really excited about the future. We're so thrilled with where, you know, we were thrilled from day one. So just seeing the growth has been, you know, such a great thing for for Yale Vengers, for Connecticut, for CI, for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

I can't like I've again, it's my first year, but I'm so blown away with the art, the tech, the like just everything going on. It's it's a little overwhelming because you have so many things happening at the same time in multiple buildings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

Um I think you get a FOMO. Like I feel like if you miss out, you're like, oh, how did I miss that?

SPEAKER_01 42:30

But I did learn it's it's YouTube recorded now. So if there was something you wanted to watch, you can go in and watch it.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Um don't worry, AI will fix this problem in like a year. We're gonna all be replicated and there was a woman in a panel yesterday talking about an AI twin, and I was like, I want no part of that. I have real twins.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

I can't take one of myself. I can't take all of that. Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

Um speaking of AI, it's been a big buzzword around the summit this year. Um are you finding that it's just a lot more AI heavy than in previous years? Sure, especially with innovation.

SPEAKER_04 43:02

We've been hearing it, right? So it's CI, I mean, now the majority of our companies have some underlying AI helping them function. So it's not, it's not really a differentiator anymore. It's like how you're going to use it, not if you're gonna use it. You're using it. Sure. We all know everyone's using it, it's just how you're using it. And so that's what we're keeping an eye on and seeing what you know you know, companies have to say and entrepreneurs are saying about it.

SPEAKER_03 43:27

Amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Um, and I will just leave you with one more question before we end for the day. And that's just if you could give anyone advice who wants to come to the summit and pitch and maybe get their voice out and heard, what would you say to maybe a younger person who's nervous?

SPEAKER_04 43:47

So we've had a few of these, and I always say my favorite thing to do is reach out in advance. So, like if there's a and honestly, there's lots of ways of doing this because when in advance of the summit, a lot of people are given a badge to say, I'm presenting at, I'm attending. So do as much homework as you can in advance to make the day of less overwhelming, right? Like, so fill your days with fill them in advance so you're not feeling like lost in a sea of people with too many things to attend. Like, map out your day. It's not, this is not an overwhelming conference if you plan in advance. You can literally pinpoint what you're trying to do. You can find the people you want to meet and set it up in advance. And I feel like that makes it much more manageable.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Yeah, and I've noticed that everybody I've talked to has been really kind and wanting to have the conversations, like it very approachable.

SPEAKER_04 44:37

Yeah, and I think again, that's a Connecticut feel, which I would love for us to shift and stop being so mama bear about ourselves and say, like, that is that is what's nice about Connecticut is we are approachable. You know, it is easy to kind of build a relationship here and expand. So uh for the young people, I don't think we're very intimidating, but I don't think anyone should be. And if you plan in advance, you definitely kind of kind of manage the couple days that you're here.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Yeah, I I can't wait to come back and I can't wait to see where this expands.

SPEAKER_04 45:08

I know. Let's do this again. I know. I'll see you this time next year. Oh, we'll bring in all those mini concerts.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Yeah, maybe we'll do like a live at the Yale Summit uh podcast reporting at a concert. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 45:20

Well, it's wonderful, you know, being here. It was amazing being here. So thank you for having me. Thank you for taking the time.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

This has been great. And um, I hope that you have a great rest of your day and find some things that inspire you. Thank you. This podcast is kept fascinated by Sola Karaoke, the Happy Confection, Pink Tractor Crew, and feeding agency insurance. Thank you for listening to Connecticut Unfiltered. If you like the conversation, please make sure to like, subscribe, follow, and share, and keep the conversation going about how we can make Connecticut more than just a drive through state.