What are your key roles and responsibilities in your current positions? What do you like most about your job and what do you find most challenging?
For 24 years I ran Fastcase along with my co-founder, where my focus was especially on sales and business development. Currently, my key role is finding and developing new markets, along with helping the sales teams sell major accounts. What I love is strategizing how to become a major player in a new market and working with the sales teams. What I’ve always found most challenging is keeping up with email — the urgent but not transformative, that can come at the expense of the transformative but not urgent.
List or describe the top 5+ professional skills that are crucial to your role.
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Connecting with internal teams
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Consultative sales
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Networking
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Gaining trust with partners
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Leadership
How did your time at Yale shape your career trajectory? For example, what skills and/or experiences did you acquire that have contributed to your career success?
I must begin saying that without the friends and network I built at Yale my company never would have succeeded. Some of our key investors came from Yale. The logical skills I received from studying physics at Yale have always been helpful.
What were the biggest challenges that you faced when transitioning to different workplaces and cultures? What advice and suggestions can you offer to current students to help them prepare for those challenges?
Most of my career I’ve been at my own company, so perhaps my advice is to start your own company and create your own culture. Well, that is not always possible, and I have had to adapt to other companies at times. My advice is be humble and befriend people who have been there for a long time and learn how to navigate from them.
