The Achieve Podcast - James Zanewicz (Connect)

Welcome to another episode of the Achieve Podcast, the show where we highlight leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs, those who are building meaningful businesses, shaping their industries, and having an impact. I'm Taylor Baker Baker, your host, and excited today to be joined by James Zanowich. Did I say that correct?

Got it, well done.

Uh, the CEO of Connect.org, or Connect— you can find them at Connect.org. Now, first off, James, tell Thank you for joining us today.

Of course.

And so, and for those getting to know you, give us a little bit of backstory because you guys are in a bit of a niche here with what you're doing.

Yeah.

How did you get into this space and who you're serving?

Yeah, well, so, so Connect, the, the kind of story of Connect is the original accelerator in the world before that word existed, and the official, or the original intentional ecosystem builder in the world before the word ecosystem existed, started in 1985. And so that's how the organization started, was to do this. And San Diego really is the first place to do an intentional intentional ecosystem. I say intentional because the Bay Area will tell you they happen first, but they just kind of happen happenstance. And, uh, you know, and interestingly enough, Connect in San Diego was founded by 7 people, one of which is Dr. Mary Walshok, um, PhD sociologist, which I think is why when you come to San Diego you find it a little more personal, a little more focused on how can I help someone else versus what can I take for myself. And, and why it's kind of that, that special collaborative sauce where not the other places aren't collaborative, but you see a lot more competition and, and a bit more cutthroat sometimes in a Boston, a New York, a San Francisco than you find here. And that's kind of how we came to be and, you know, kind of grew up and in its mid-teen years, you know, around those aughts, those teens of 2000s, really spun out a lot of other ecosystem partners, BioComm, the Cleantech Group, the San Diego Sports Innovation Council, Athena, which supports women in C-suite leadership, but either spun them out directly by starting them as programs and spinning them out to independent organizations or a lot of other folks who had worked for Connect at some point or around Connect built up ecosystem support systems. The ecosystem really exploded and became, you know, a much more mature ecosystem that we find now where if you're an innovation entrepreneur and you come out, you look around and you find 300 people who say they're there to help you and you don't know where to go. And most of them want cash, want equity, or have kind of one entity overseeing them because they're doing it for a purpose. And, you know, not to say an ulterior motive 'cause it sounds negative, but there's a reason why they're doing it. Where with Connect, incredibly broad board that supports us. Our funding comes from our board members and from grants, so we are unbiased. We're able to give advice that is, you know, really unbiased and neutral to entrepreneurs and let them know the right moments either to go through our programs or the programs offered by any other entity around San Diego.

Wow, that is beautiful. So what would you say right now is driving growth for the organization?

Yeah, so I think as we reinvisioned ourselves for the next 40 years, so we took— when I came into CEO, I guess almost 9 months ago now, the team and I took an intentional meet of like 5 to 6 months, met with people in the community, met with our founders, met with our board members to figure out kind of where we were as Connect, what our history has been, and what was needed going forward. Um, San Diego is, as we kind of talked about, the most mature ecosystem around and copied by 50 countries around the globe. But we're now at a moment where when you have that mature ecosystem where it is almost more confusing to founders than it was back 41 years ago when the only place to find was Connect and they just had to find it. Now they don't know where to turn at which moments, that we're able to really focus on pathways, proof, and platform for our entrepreneurs, focusing on supporting them on their journey in every way, in a way that we view every entity in San Diego as a collaborator and not a competitor now. And that we also amplify their stories and help them tell their stories, which helps them attract funding. And so I think getting back to what was our core 41 years ago, but in a way that is modern for now is really why people are excited and energized. And we have a great team who's doing that. Like, I just get to do things like this and talk about it, but I'm, I'm not doing all the work. It's an incredible team that does that.

And how big is the team?

So we are 8 right now, we'll be 11 as soon as we're fully staffed again. We're hiring for 3 positions right now.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Now, Jen, for you, looking back, what would you say have been some of the biggest turning points that have molded the way you think about running the organization?

Oh wow. Um, you know, I've been really fortunate to have some incredible bosses. Uh, Dr. Nancy Martin at the University of Louisville, who hired me a corporate coach when I was 30. So this is kind of a gentler, softer edge to me in many ways. But she, she taught me, um, to try not to say no. She hated no, but she hated here's the solution, and it may not be what people asked for, but it gave them something. And so she taught me that perspective that was incredibly valuable. Um, you know, I, I had MJ Rourke even before that when I was at Extra, and she ran, uh, promotion and station relations there. And, you know, she taught taught me, and it's funny, I put this phrase on LinkedIn the other day, so it's in my head, but she taught me LY&LY, which is the fact that, you know, it stands for like you and love you. And she talked about how, you know, there are friends that you may have friends that you like, but you don't necessarily love. And you may have family members that you love, but you don't necessarily like. But, you know, a lot of people who you work with or become your chosen family, you know, you both like them and love them and you should let them know that because it's a rare combination. And so that kind of comes into a lot of how I approach ecosystems and building is I wanna find those people who approach things in similar ways. And then another part was really working for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Joanne Thorich there, who was our chief administrative officer. And, you know, the focus there was almost on innovation philanthropy. So it was less on making money and more about open science. And this, 'cause, you know, when you have a $19 billion endowment, you can do things like that, which HHMI has. But, you know, it very much changed how you think about things. And you can work those kinds of principles into for-profit enterprises as well in different ways. And it really can twist how you think about social responsibility with corporate, corporate philanthropy. Corporate enterprises, investments, things like that as well. So those are some of the big things, I think.

Yeah, I can see that. So next question is kind of a two-part question for you. When it comes to your outreach, your messaging, your marketing systems, what's been working well to attract and keep clients?

Yeah, yeah. So for, so for us, it's, it's less, you know, because we help our clients in exchange for nothing. So, so, you know, our client base is incredibly large, but it's more Getting the word out there about what we're doing to help them. And I'd say, you know, Trey Brackett, who is our Chief Brand and Engagement Officer, excuse me, started the podcast, the Connect Current, which is little 15-minute episodes, incredibly well received. I think we're what, 3 weeks in now? Incredibly, incredibly well received already. Doing press releases for our companies, things we haven't done before, really kind of amping that up because that's getting the word out about things. And then just having a team that is incredibly present and out there in the ecosystem. We kind of shifted from a model of people who ran programs to people who are in verticals, and we've hired our first two vertical directors, have our third now. We have a director of life science, a director of tech and defense, and then we have a director of AI that we're in the final interviews for right now. And those folks are out at the, you know, the things going on in their spaces constantly to get to know the community, and then they come back and brainstorm on how they can help that community, A, navigate the pathway of San Diego and all the options that are there, B, help them, you know, get proof and credibility as they're going forward and building their companies, and then C, elevate their platform by promoting them promoting them locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. And all that is so those investment dollars come in, those companies grow, and we're able to actually make San Diego as successful as it can be.

Wow, that's awesome. And where do you still see opportunity or money on the table?

Oh my God, just, just to be able to do more and more effective. I mean, we're in the process of reimagining Springboard to do that Pathways program where before it had really been focused on late seed, Series A, help, and now we're blowing that up to be from beginning to end of lifecycle for companies and mapping the ecosystem a little more. We're going to work with some agentic AI agents to help us do that and give our directors almost AI interns who constantly scour and tell them, here's what's out here, and then what they do, and then hopefully our directors will be able to put in, here's the company I'm working with, oh, here are the 4 connections you should make for them and these make the most sense. But Daniela Gama, our data and operations person, is working with some folks on that. We have some board members who are volunteering. Their time and expertise and what their companies do. But I think it is kind of embracing AI in the way that you have to as a modern organization, not to eliminate jobs, but to make people incredibly more efficient where you can do so much more with the same amount.

Wow. And I love, I love what you just described. If you wouldn't mind, give us a little more. How are you guys finding ways internally to utilize AI? Because there's so much talk around it.

Yeah, so, you know, we're, we're in the early phases for that, but, uh, it is, you know, we have an Airtable database that has our data, you know, from not the last 41 years, but from, you know, the last more recent ones when you had things like Airtable, has all that in there. And then how can we actually, you know, and Daniela understands this, I don't, I call her like magic and sorcery with Airtable, but she's able to like have it, oh, this happened, and I can cross-reference that against public sources and then say, hey, here's a draft email to send to this company about what they have going on and Maybe they just had a Series B, so they're probably going to hire 4 to 5 times the people they have now. And, you know, we live in California where HR issues are, you know, much more complex than they are in other states. It might be time to introduce them to these firms that can help them staff up and put better processes in place. Or, you know, they've grown to the point and they're a biotech company. This is the moment to be like, hey, you should go talk to BioComm and Tim Scott and his team. And the, you know, both the advocacy and the discounts you get will probably more than pay for themselves for your membership fee. But where the AI can kind of help us where it doesn't just have to be the person in their brain doing it, but they can get support and a little draft email that they can personalize and, you know, add their bit on top, but it saves them a lot of that background work. That's one of the steps we're looking at now. Wow. Wow.

Yes.

It's my version of the I Have a Dream speech.

The thing is, we live in that reality. It's not, it's not just a dream. It's like, oh, it's here tomorrow.

It's 100%.

So if you had to pick one constraint to focus on and solve over the next 90 days, what would it be?

One? I can't pick one. I see shiny things. No. Gosh, I guess the one is really getting our team fully staffed for the next 90 days because we're almost there. We're bringing on our director of AI. We're in the final interviews for that. We're bringing on a communications and events coordinator on Tracy for branded engagement to really amplify that and our events, which all live in the same space. And then our head of partnerships and growth. To really kind of take what the amazing Kate Kelly did before and amp up our board partnerships and work in collaboration with our COO Gretel Van Saan, our head of entrepreneurial programs Peter Stegman, and then Liz Dargy, who is going to move into our board relations and partnerships position, but really to kind of amplify that. And we have to have all the pieces in place and we're this close. And in 90 days, we'll not only have them on board, but we should be rolling. And that's what I can't wait for. Before.

Oh, wonderful. That sounds amazing.

Yeah.

So when you look back at your own journey, the wins, the mistakes, what lessons stand out to you, and which ones do you feel like maybe took longer to learn than they probably should have?

Oh, I mean, definitely learn— it took me longer to learn than it should have. But, you know, somebody wants to do something you're doing, let them, and find the new thing and just do it. Like, don't fight. Be like, you want that? Great, go find the next new cool thing. And I'll be honest, the reason why I'm so immersed in AI is that my last job another group wanted to do a lot of what we were doing and I was like, you know, have it. I'm gonna go do this AI in healthcare thing because I was in the School of Medicine and that has transformed my career and my thinking and the fact that I understand, I think, or understood a little sooner than many people the power of AI. 'Cause this was before the ChatGPT explosion I was engaged. And so we were on the forefront of that versus being behind it at Tulane School of Medicine. And you know, I'm able to kind of bring that to bear. We're fortunate the Alliance for AI in Healthcare, that organization I was part of is now headquartered in San Diego, is a program run by Kinect. So they cease being an independent standalone. They're now partnered with in a program powered by and run by Kinect. We'll be relaunching that at BIO in June, which is happening in San Diego. So there's a lot of pieces that have come from that where, you know, I think had I learned that sooner, I look back at what could I have done 20, 30, even 10 years ago had I learned to let go and not fight back a little more. And I'm like, okay, it's, you know, everyone's a partner, let them have it and go find something new to do. There's always more work.

Yes, always more work. That's so true. So last question for you. Yeah. When you think about the next stages of the business, what are you most excited about?

Oh my God, I'm excited for, you know, seeing Connect become, you know, a really sustained organization where we diversify our revenue model, where it's not just board seats and grants. We're looking at other ways we can do that. Um, And, you know, continuing to partner with the community and other folks in the community to do this and make it happen. I think that's just such an incredible opportunity and it's why I chose to come here. Like, I was in my dream job for my alma mater with my dream house that became an albatross for the last 9 months. It's almost sold, so we've almost solved that. But, you know, I had not planned to move back to the West Coast or to do this and wasn't looking. And this is just like, it is the best job in the world for what I do. And it was too hard to say no to.

I can see that.

Wow.

Thank you for coming on and sharing so much wisdom. And, and I love your ethos with the company where it's like, you know what, let's just help people. And when you do good, it comes back around. It always does.

100%. You'll find that with our board members, with our companies. Like, you know, folks, we have, we have our Summer Social coming up on, uh, June 16th. If they, if they search for in their Agentic AI bot Connect and Summer Social, because no one Googles anymore, If you look at Connect Summer Social, get a ticket, come. If you're in San Diego, hang out with the group. It'll be about 400 people in every vertical hanging out in the summer, and it's highly social but also highly business. That's what I love about San Diego is it's so similar to New Orleans in many ways. We're a communal city in a way that most places aren't. I encourage people to come join us and be part of our community.

That's awesome.

For those who want to learn more, they can find you on LinkedIn, obviously.

And then they can go to connect.org. Anywhere else you want to send them?

No, those are, those are the two main places that you can get pretty much everywhere from those places. And I say, you know, LinkedIn, we're pumping out tons of content. So follow us there, you'll get all the things, but the website always has it as well.

Awesome. Thank you so much. And thank you to our sponsors of today's episode, Achieve Fractional, which provides fractional executive leadership for growing businesses. And if you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend, with a colleague. If you're just getting started on your entrepreneur business, or you're stuck, reach out to James and the team. They'll connect you, they'll find the resources you need, they will get you moving again in the right direction. So reach out and then pay it forward, pass it around, like collaborate. And unless it's a healthy competition—

those are always fun, that drives, it drives innovation, right? It's a good thing.

It is, it is. So good healthy competition. And so, but they're, they're collaborators. And you're sharing good ideas and helping each other sharpen. I love it. I love it. James, again, thank you so much for joining.

My pleasure.

Thank you all for listening. We'll see you all in the next episode of the Achieve Podcast.