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From Santo Domingo to Startups: Aldo Chavez on Finding Purpose Across Continents
32 Plays3 months ago
In this episode of Valiant Talks, host Frank Furbacher reconnects with Aldo Chavez, a 2009 Manhattanville alum whose journey spans the Dominican Republic, New York, Spain, and Denmark. Aldo shares how his early dreams of becoming a lawyer evolved into a passion for marketing, innovation, and customer experience in the tech startup world. From filming hockey games on campus to leading CX teams in Copenhagen, Aldo reflects on the power of reinvention, the value of problem-based learning, and the importance of embracing both the academic and social sides of college life.
Whether you're a student, a startup enthusiast, or just love a good story of global growth and grit—this one’s for you.
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Transcript
Introduction to Aldo Chavez's Journey
00:00:27
Frank Furbacher
Aldo, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.
00:00:30
Aldo
My pleasure, my pleasure, Frank.
00:00:33
Frank Furbacher
So Aldo, why don't you give everyone um a little bit of an introduction to who you are and we'll start there.
00:00:40
Aldo
All right. um Well, hi, everybody. ah First time doing this with Frank and excited to be here. ah It's been a while since I've spoken to, well, I speak to many former but do we call What do we call ourselves?
00:00:56
Aldo
Valiants or Manhattanvillians? Or what do we call ourselves, Frank?
00:00:59
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, Valiant. Yeah, the Valiant.
00:01:00
Aldo
Valiants? Okay.
00:01:01
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
00:01:02
Aldo
ah Yeah, and yeah, Aldo Chavez, class of 2009. um ah I am originally from the Dominican Republic. I have i i joined ah joined Manhattanville in 2005.
00:01:20
Aldo
two thousand and five And ah since graduation, I've been in Europe primarily, sliced between Madrid and Copenhagen and residing currently in Copenhagen, work in tech, SaaS.
00:01:35
Aldo
um And yeah, excited to to be talking to you, Frank, and catching up.
00:01:40
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, thank you so much, Aldo. It's great. I mean, to be honest, I don't think we've spoken since graduation, but like i'm I'm someone who follows along with people on social media.
00:01:44
Aldo
And yeah. Yeah.
00:01:50
Frank Furbacher
So when we had this idea of like let's start this podcast, you know you're one of those people that have continuously updated your profile, I guess you could say, and so you end up on the top of my list.
00:01:50
Aldo
yeah
00:02:00
Aldo
Yeah. All right. Well, um um I'm glad that did something.
00:02:06
Frank Furbacher
So i you're from the Dominican Republic, Aldo.
00:02:10
Aldo
Yep.
00:02:10
Frank Furbacher
i Would love to hear, you know, we're in Dominican Republic.
00:02:15
Aldo
Yeah.
00:02:15
Frank Furbacher
What was life like for you? And then eventually, how'd you wind up hearing about Manhattanville?
00:02:21
Aldo
Yeah, for sure. Um, Yeah. So, uh, yeah, I grew up in, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Um, and I'm, I also sent spent some time abroad in the U S uh, family moved around in like central and South America due to work.
00:02:36
Aldo
So we spent some time in many different places. I got used to moving around, for quite some time. Um, spent some time in the U S in Maryland with my, with my grandparents, uh, loved it there.
00:02:47
Aldo
Uh, I had such a great time in Maryland and, um, Yeah, um I went to high school at the American School of Santo Domingo, where that school, if memory serves, there were a few ah former alumni of that high school, that school that had attended Manhattanville College.
00:03:14
Aldo
And there was so there was a big influx of people um that that were for lack of better word, influencing in ah in the ah you know graduating classes and so forth and you know where to look for and what universities, colleges to consider when when when graduating.
Choosing Manhattanville College: Why and How?
00:03:35
Aldo
And um I had applied to a bunch of different universities ah within the US. I knew that I wanted to to study abroad. I didn't want to stay in the in the in the Dominican Republic.
00:03:46
Aldo
um And so I met, I believe it were the Bayawanskis. They were a family that had a few of their kids had gone to Manhattanville and they were kind of like one of those anchors in the Dominican Republic to kind of attract or talk to different ah potential and students.
00:04:09
Aldo
um to consider, hey, might might want to check out Menhanville. So, and and and I had a ah mutual, I had friends in high school who and whose brother had gone to Menhanville.
00:04:21
Aldo
And I just, you know, I just heard it through the grapevine. i went to one of the orientation, I don't know if it's an orientation or one of, them but just a meeting of a bunch of of of parents and students from Manhattanville I met um current well at the time they were currently studying in the university who and who I ended up befriending when I actually joined Manhattanville and I just got a great vibe from from from people they were all talking how how it's how Manhattanville was so great in terms of not just you know the types of classes that you have, but also the fact that they're smaller. So you get a little bit more attention from the professors um and just the the general culture and and and vibe from the university. So that that attracted me to that. And I went through the application process and I distinctly remember when I got the letter in the mail.
00:05:08
Aldo
Funnily enough, I didn't get the acceptance acceptance letter first. I got the invite. They did this like dinner for parents and and and family members who have people who were accepted.
00:05:19
Aldo
And I got that first before I got the acceptance letter. So I knew by that that I had been accepted. I was like, Oh, this is awesome. um I still don't know if um if I've been accepted, but technical technically, but and that was yeah in ah in a nutshell, my experience in finding out about Manhattanville and and ultimately joining.
00:05:38
Frank Furbacher
So you had a lot of people close to you who were, um I guess you could say influencing or giving you an idea of what Manhattanville would be like. Was there, um and you you said you wanted to go to school ah in the US.
00:05:53
Frank Furbacher
Was there anything about the proximity to you know New York City that was an influential piece for you?
00:05:58
Aldo
Oh, that, yeah, for sure. um So there were a couple of different factors in my decision making, because I got accepted into other universities, but Manhattanville ah ah was higher on my on my pick list for a few reasons.
00:06:11
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:06:13
Aldo
New York um was a city that initially when I applied to Manhattanville, New York wasn't really on my radar. um But the more and more I thought about it, the more I became kind of falling in love with the idea.
00:06:27
Aldo
i had ah had family in New York. I have an uncle who was studying medicine. was doing a fellowship and he just, um I had visited him and um we kind of,
00:06:41
Aldo
when we were talking about application process and where to go and what to consider, uh, I just, um, he just had so many great stories and, you know, between Chinese food at three o'clock in the morning and just the, the, the, the life in New York, I, that really attracted me to, to, to, to Manhattanville.
00:07:01
Aldo
I will also say that the scholarship was a huge factor as well. I mean, I was, ah I got a, I got a, a pretty big scholarship to the academic scholarship. And that was a ah big factor in my decision making as well.
00:07:14
Aldo
Just obviously a ah burden off my shoulders. So yeah, that would those those there were a couple of factors and that was one of them, yeah.
00:07:22
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
College Life Reflections and Shifts in Career Aspirations
00:07:23
Frank Furbacher
So what was your experience like at Manhattanville? I know that um based on your LinkedIn profile, it seems like you were political science and communications double major.
00:07:32
Aldo
Yep. Yeah. ah Political, it it comes in political science. Yeah. Um, if memory serves, it's been a while. Uh, I did, um sorry, what was, what was it? What was the question that we, that you started with?
00:07:32
Frank Furbacher
Is that correct?
00:07:45
Aldo
What was life like?
00:07:46
Frank Furbacher
So what was your yeah what was your experience like there?
00:07:46
Aldo
Yes. Yeah. What was life like? Um, I had an amazing time at Menanville. Um, I, I have nothing but great memories, obviously some, some, you know,
00:07:59
Aldo
some, uh, let's, let's call, let's say, uh, some, uh, some, uh, not regrets. I don't have any regrets, but some, you know, some, uh, not so great decisions made at sometimes, uh, for sure as, as one tends to do when, when, when, when at college, but, um, I had, ah had a great time I i had and had a really solid group of friends.
00:08:20
Aldo
Um, I had a great experience overall in terms of, um, education and the classes that I that that i was taking. But ultimately, I think more than anything, i really grew up um in my time in Manhattanville and post-Manhattanville looking back on it.
00:08:40
Aldo
But I mean, as as I mentioned, I had ah i got a scholar ah you know kind of an academic scholarship. um i was I was very academically applied ah during time in high school. i was mainly hitting the books.
00:08:56
Aldo
um And it wasn't until I i moved ah to New York and went to Menanville where i kind of I needed to find a different version of myself other than the guy that was just like, you know, in a book all day and just trying to, you know, get good grades and and so forth. So I yeah ah pushed aside a little bit of the academics and focused more so on the social aspects. I'm like growing up and kind of like what I had not really missed. Sorry, what I what i had um felt like I had missed out during high school.
00:09:27
Aldo
um Just because i I went through a huge growth spurt, I had this opportunity to kind of like, oh, maybe let me let me try and and and and figure out who's Aldo in Manhattanville in New York. And I just had a really great time.
00:09:46
Aldo
ah
00:09:46
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
00:09:47
Aldo
Maybe too much of a great time.
00:09:49
Frank Furbacher
Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because college is that time where you you kind of get plotted into somewhere and there's very few people who know you. So you kind of like, all right, well, now it's up to me to define who this person is on this campus, ah which is like a very interesting thing and like time in your life to to have that happen.
00:10:05
Aldo
For sure.
00:10:08
Frank Furbacher
um Did you come in knowing you wanted to be like a political science and communications major? Like how long did it take you to like figure out that's where your interests, you know, lied?
00:10:18
Aldo
So I i knew i was a pretty certain that I wanted to be a lawyer when I was graduating high school.
00:10:30
Aldo
I remember telling my principal and friends at the time in the DR r that I was going be a lawyer. And the best way for that is, okay, let me do poli-sci and pre-law and all that stuff. And I remember orientation. I met ah Professor Polly.
00:10:48
Aldo
That was the first professor that I met at orientation. ah And Father Will Tyrell as well. um But Paulie, yeah, he I just had so many questions about law and about you know studying um what what path to take and so forth. And he was really instrumental in helping me kind of figure that out.
00:11:09
Aldo
um But ironically, as I as I as I went more and more into political science and more and more into law, um i I didn't like it. I didn't love them. No, I liked it. I just, I didn't love it.
00:11:25
Aldo
um There was one particular class that i took in my pursuit of law. was what I believe it was like corporate law or contract law. ah't I can't really remember right now, but man, I wanted to, I wanted to pull my hair.
00:11:42
Aldo
ah It was so tedious. It was really not my cup of tea. Let's just pull it put it that way. But i still I still took political science courses and I so i i took every poly class that I could i get my hands on. He was a great he was a great professor um um and helped me see kind of like the the the different aspects to law and how to dissect things. And I really appreciate my time with him.
00:12:06
Aldo
um But that's when I started to come pursue the communication side of things like, Oh, you know, I was always interested in marketing and advertising. I started take courses there and, and photography and and and in film classes. I took ah a couple of different ah film courses with Lugowski, I believe was his last name.
00:12:27
Aldo
And he was he was a tough cookie. But he he did know his stuff and I also appreciated his courses as well. um But yeah, ultimately, it was kind of like this, ah you know, two brain perspective, one very, you know, analytical and looking at, okay, you know, let me let me look go through law, let me explore that avenue, didn't really love it. Let me like go on more the creative side and and start to see what but opportunities are are available there.
00:13:00
Frank Furbacher
So you're the second one to bring up Professor Pauly. And yeah, ah he was influential too.
00:13:03
Aldo
Really?
00:13:06
Aldo
Not surprised, actually. Not not surprised, actually.
00:13:08
Frank Furbacher
Yeah. um I never took a Pauly course. And now that I've heard so much about him um from ah friends as well, it's something that I kind of wish, oh man, maybe I should have taken one of his classes.
00:13:11
Aldo
Mmm.
00:13:20
Frank Furbacher
But tell me about like, what was it about him that ah drew you in? You said you took every class that he had. So that's like,
00:13:26
Aldo
Well, not um not not every class, but but I did take, i want to say like if if maybe four or five classes with him, if memory serves.
00:13:33
Frank Furbacher
It's just
00:13:34
Aldo
And he also recommended a few other courses to take with some other professors, especially since I was like interested in on the political science side. But yeah, um like I said, I met him, if not day one, day two, or day three of orientation, he was one of the first professors. Like I was gung ho with law and I was, okay, let who can I talk to? And can't remember who was it that told me, okay, you need to talk to Professor Pauly.
00:14:03
Aldo
But somebody mentioned him and I just looked out for him. He was, we were on top, what I can't remember the, what was the name of the hall on just on top of the cafeteria? Was it Bensinger?
00:14:14
Frank Furbacher
Benzinger?
00:14:16
Aldo
It was something going on there. I think that was where orientation was being. Like every professor or department had a booth and he just happened to have have a booth. um And I sought him out and I just, you know, picked his brain for a couple of minutes and noted down his name. And when I could register for his classes, I just registered for his class. And I think the first class that I took with him was ah criminal law.
00:14:41
Aldo
And that was... that was that was a class. That was a good class. That was hard as hell, but it was ah was a good class.
00:14:51
Frank Furbacher
Yeah. Yeah. So what were you involved with on campus outside of the classroom? Like what was life like for you?
00:14:59
Aldo
i was ah i worked um I worked in a couple of different gigs within campus. of Being a um being ah an an international student, I don't know how much you know about this, but you are able to work on campus for the university.
00:15:20
Aldo
Uh, so I took, um, uh, I, I think my first job was in admissions. Uh, then I had maybe a stint, uh, at, uh, uh, um, in the library, but then i I, then, because I was studying, comms and I took some film courses and so forth.
00:15:39
Aldo
Um, uh, don't know if you ever got to meet CJ, CJ Howard, I think was his last name. Yeah. CJ.
00:15:45
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
00:15:46
Aldo
Um, when I started to take course if ah you know film courses and editing courses, he was but heavily involved in that and I started to work um with him in the um what's it called like filming uh hockey uh matches and uh and some basketball matches and that was a lot of fun because you you know you're basically getting paid to watch you know watch a game uh and watch the valians kick ass so that was uh that was pretty cool and uh and i also spent worked some worked at uh um
00:16:22
Aldo
What was it called? The... Was it the... record No, it wasn't the... You remember where the pub was? Just at the end of Bessinger, there was this like game room.
00:16:32
Frank Furbacher
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:16:36
Aldo
The game the game zone.
00:16:38
Frank Furbacher
he
00:16:38
Aldo
So I used to work at the game zone as well. That was also a lot of fun. Some very interesting characters I found myself dealing with in time to time there. but But yeah, I was mainly working.
00:16:50
Aldo
um and and split between working, studying, and just hanging out with friends. i I will say that that was one of the things that I regret not being more more more involved in um community stuff within the university, within well now university, back then to college.
00:17:05
Aldo
um But i did I was involved with ah ah Craig Donnelly throughout the four years in and volunteer work. So I was like with Habitat for Humanity and some other stuff, building houses with folks in the cold, maybe retrofitting some high school. I remember going to a high school.
00:17:26
Aldo
can't remember where it was exactly, but we needed to just fix some stuff up, paint and just do a bunch of volunteer work there.
00:17:34
Frank Furbacher
That's great. That's great. So you, um you know, I'd say you'd had have had a rather busy life on campus, right? You double major, you've got jobs on campus. um Leading up to, you know, senior year, getting ready to graduate.
00:17:51
Frank Furbacher
Did you know what you wanted to do after Manhattanville at that point?
Navigating Post-Graduation Challenges and Further Education
00:17:55
Aldo
So actually one, one thing to clarify, i majored in comms and, and minored in poli-sci.
00:18:03
Frank Furbacher
Oh, okay.
00:18:03
Aldo
So no, no, no, no double major. Um, but the, what I did after or what I, or if, if I knew what I wanted to do after, um
00:18:15
Aldo
I knew I wanted to work in marketing. I knew I wanted to work in advertising. I was very adamant about that. um I wanted to, i i was very passionate about coming up with creative concepts and ah social media was on the rise at that time.
00:18:32
Aldo
So it was like everything was all about social media and just trying to figure out. um how to angle that, how you know how to leverage that new medium and so forth. So I was really, really interested in that.
00:18:43
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:18:43
Aldo
But I knew that I also needed a lot of experience. um I also needed to do some more studying in in the field. um And that's when started to pursue opportunities or I should say,
00:18:56
Aldo
um what's what's um look at um and the next leveling up in i could from an academic standpoint. um But at the time, you know it was ah my my my my ideal goal was to stay in the US, stay in New York,
00:19:15
Aldo
and get a job. But we were hit with the first massive recession. So forget about trying to find a job, especially in New York City as like ah as and as ah as ah as an expat.
00:19:31
Aldo
That was not going happen. So I kind of knew that I had to ah look at other opportunities. So I went back home. I was there for a bit and I started to apply again to different, uh, uh, to do a, uh, to pursue a ah master's MBA.
00:19:40
Frank Furbacher
Thank
00:19:49
Aldo
Uh, I got in, um, into, uh, into a university in Spain. um and, I moved over there and I was doing, um, that part-time work at this, um, like student, uh, experience, um,
00:20:06
Aldo
company that just did a bunch of stuff for expats. And I was basically have half of the time studying, half of the time working for that that company, doing a little bit of everything that we're startup as well, doing a little bit of everything in terms of like marketing, advertising, sales, just different hats ah in in any given day.
00:20:15
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:20:31
Aldo
um And when I graduated, i moved on to another company, ah better better salary, better position, more involved and more heavily focused on on on marketing, on advertising.
00:20:44
Aldo
And then... then i I don't know. I got itchy fit and each of itchy feet, as I say. um And ah I got to say, I got burned out with ah with social media, with ah working in advertising and social media.
00:21:00
Aldo
It was... It's toxic, man. It's just... Working and so like when it when you see it say it's like what's the expression seeing how the sausage is made? It's it's not it's it's it's not good.
00:21:00
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:21:12
Aldo
So I got burned out. I personally didn't didn't have ah that much. I didn't have a Twitter. I was done with Facebook. I was done with Instagram. um Instagram wasn't new. I was not a big user at the time.
00:21:27
Aldo
um So I got really tired of that and started to look at, okay, what what what what can I do now? And that's when um' ah through through a friend, I found out about, well, actually,
00:21:40
Aldo
my grandfather who had ah also heavily influenced me in in in in that you know pursuing academia and so forth. um He also spent a lot of time talking about um the time that he spent in the Nordics and how amazing it was and and how great of an experience he had over here.
00:21:58
Aldo
So I started to look, we we we started to talk about that again ah later in life. And I started to look at opportunities and in in Denmark and Copenhagen and other areas, you know Sweden, Norway,
00:22:09
Aldo
And I applied to universities and and programs in all across the Nordics. And I got into a really great program at at a university here in Copenhagen, where I did a did a master's in operations and innovations management.
00:22:09
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:22:28
Aldo
And that i was amazing. man, I've studied in a few different places and I, I, I gotta say that was an amazing experience. Like the way that the, that the Nordic, that the Scandinavians, that the Danes take about, you know, it's problem-based learning is what they call it.
00:22:42
Frank Furbacher
you
00:22:45
Aldo
And, you know, it's, it's, it's not really, really, um, at all, like how you study in the U S where you, you know, you kind like read a book and kind what is it, what is it, gem everything in before a test and,
00:22:57
Aldo
regurgitate it into and into into written format the next day. um So I had ah a really great experience and I got a chance to, I did, I worked with Nat Geo and Fox in my time here in in in Copenhagen.
00:23:14
Aldo
I spent ah some time working at Mesk Growth as well um after my master's where it's like the VC, i don't know if you're familiar with Mesk, but it's like the
00:23:14
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:23:25
Aldo
The big shipping, they're known for shipping, but theyre they dabble in logistics and and in in in in energy and so forth. And they had this... if they called it a startup within a large organization. It's called Maersk Growth.
00:23:39
Aldo
and It's like the VC branch. And what they did was that they effectively were looking at disrupting themselves. What startups are out there that are trying to change packaging, change shipping, change logistics, change energy and so forth. And they would effectively just do a bunch of research, nine months, 10 months of the year.
00:24:02
Aldo
and then invite all of of the the potential startups that they thought were worthwhile, ah help them coach, help them in pitch in in their pitches and so forth, and ultimately invest in a handful of them.
00:24:16
Aldo
um And I spent some time there, and then I got approached by a startup ah who was doing you know project management with AI, which was before the AI boom.
00:24:29
Aldo
And I spent six years there, one of the founding members of the CS team and building the the customer success organization from the ground up. And that was amazing.
00:24:41
Aldo
And I really can't complain. i love life here in Copenhagen.
Experiences in Copenhagen and the Nordic Education System
00:24:45
Aldo
It's ah been really great. And that's been
00:24:47
Frank Furbacher
So you went from, you went from, um
00:24:52
Frank Furbacher
doing your, you were in Spain doing your masters. Is that correct?
00:24:57
Aldo
Yep. Yep. Yep.
00:24:59
Frank Furbacher
And you got that degree and then you, you spoke to your, that's funny.
00:25:01
Aldo
yep
00:25:04
Frank Furbacher
Like you spoke to your grandfather and you said, you know what, I gotta go find a way to spend some time in the Nordics. That's like, uh, I mean, and shit that's what's cool about Manhattanville is like, I don't know anyone in my circle who would be like talking to anyone about spending time in the Nordics. I think that's so cool.
00:25:25
Frank Furbacher
And it's like something where the only thing I've ever heard is how beautiful ah that area of the world is. So that's so cool that you did that, but you get, did you get a second master's degree?
00:25:35
Frank Furbacher
Is that what, what, what you did there?
00:25:36
Aldo
Correct. Yeah, yeah. I did a master's.
00:25:38
Frank Furbacher
And it was a master's in operations. What was the full title of that?
00:25:40
Aldo
um Yeah, so so it was a master's in science and technology, specifically within operations and innovations management. So basically, you know, org structure, change management, heavily on change management.
00:25:54
Aldo
um And yeah, spent two years pursuing that.
00:26:00
Frank Furbacher
That's so cool. Cause like, i think what it sounds like is you get to that and all of a sudden you're like, where has this been my whole life? This is so cool. And that problem-based learning that you mentioned, um it sounds a it sounds rather unique.
00:26:15
Frank Furbacher
Is there any way you could give me like an idea of like um what that means or like how that um how that really ignited like ah what what seems like a passion that stuck with you?
00:26:28
Aldo
Yeah. um So i um for the most part, when it when when it came to studying, um i had learned one way, really, um which is just cram it all in.
00:26:44
Aldo
That's that that, you know, ever, you know, since since middle school, high school, it's just like, you know, pick up a book, cram it in There was no real, um or in my experience,
00:26:55
Aldo
um Critical thinking, except for when I was in high school and I had my my my high school AP Lit professor, Ms. Lynn Guitar, who I freaking adore. She was she was a game changer for me and in in in just...
00:27:15
Aldo
more critical thinking, um which if you put it side by side, critical thinking probably, learning it's the pretty much the same size side. to It's the same you know two different sides of the same point.
00:27:28
Aldo
um But when, ah you know, in my in you know Manhattanville, it it was more of the same. It was like get in a library, read X number of books provided to you by the professor, in class if you happen to be in class that day. And, you know, um not really...
00:27:47
Aldo
at least again, in my experience, yeah like challenging the status quo or at least trying to dig a little bit more in terms of like, what's your thought around this? um My experience, I don't know anybody else's, but when I moved to Copenhagen, or I should say, when I started to look into programs, this particular program, which was at Alberg university in Copenhagen,
00:27:59
Frank Furbacher
Thank
00:28:13
Aldo
they have what's called the PBL or the Problem-Based Learning Program or study method.
00:28:14
Frank Furbacher
you.
00:28:19
Aldo
And effectively, it's it's it's all about the best way that I can describe it. It's preparing people that are pursuant of this of a master's program to think in real life terms.
00:28:35
Aldo
And if you think about it, when you're when you are working on something And you know you tell me. you're not you're You're ultimately really not doing it alone. You're in a room with other people. You're brainstorming. You're coming up with concepts.
00:28:48
Aldo
You're challenging this. You're you know looking into implementing new tools, changing the tech stack, figuring out what the problem is, ah applying change management, ah a bunch of stuff, right?
00:28:59
Aldo
you're not sitting in a silo and putting anything down. Yeah, there's a concept, there's a a part of that where you're strategizing, you're thinking things through, but the majority of your work, you're being you're doing it with another person or a group of people. um And that's what problem-based learning is. It's that they you know you' proof you're, throughout the the the two years, you're presented with a bunch of projects.
00:29:21
Aldo
youre One of the assignments every semester is a project based on what you're studying in the particular semester.
00:29:28
Aldo
And then you have to effectively find a problem within the field, within the industry, within whatever, and reach out to companies and reach out to corporations and and try to like, okay, you have this theory.
00:29:29
Frank Furbacher
Thank
00:29:45
Aldo
based on and on um on what you're learning and in in the course, and you are conceptualizing what you believe is a problem that you're observing, or maybe not a problem, or just a theory of something, and then you are reaching out to university but to a ah potential company,
00:30:01
Aldo
and or a series of companies, and you're observing. You're observing, you're interviewing, you're collecting data, and then ultimately you're compiling that data using certain methodlog methodologies based on the course that you learned and applying it into either proving or disproving your theorem.
00:30:06
Frank Furbacher
Thank
00:30:19
Aldo
And that was really cool because you are in a room with other people and you're figuring this out. You're not doing it by yourself. And that's, at least in my experience, how when, you know, now that i've been, you know,
00:30:31
Aldo
um involved in startups and working and and and in in in organizations, he's like that's what it is. You're just in a room trying to build up the company, trying to solve for a particular problem, keeping customers happy or figuring out what what the problem is with the product, evolving the product, et etc.
00:30:47
Aldo
And it's all problem-based learning. So this university had this application of just taking you know acquiring knowledge, and your and skills independently, working analytic analytically and cooperating with other businesses because that's what they want that that's what the market wants. They want people that have actively been heavily involved with different organizations, have you know dabbled in trying to understand, you know to give you an example,
00:31:21
Aldo
ah One of the first projects that I worked on with like three or four other colleagues within the master's program was around how um the impact streaming services was going to have within production, within c so within cinema.
00:31:36
Aldo
And we interviewed a bunch we we we we interviewed a bunch of production companies within Amsterdam and in Copenhagen. and trying to understand what were what were the ramifications, positive or negative, to Netflix's impact to the film industry, to the TV industry.
00:31:59
Aldo
ah so And and it it was funny because we were under the impression that, oh, Netflix was completely disrupting everything in the negative, but production companies actually saw it at the time as quite a positive because it just meant more work for them.
00:32:13
Aldo
It meant more work and more opportunity to to to cooperate with something as as big as this you know constant churning of a machine in terms of producing content in TV or film format.
00:32:25
Aldo
So that's one example of problem-based learning.
00:32:30
Frank Furbacher
That's awesome. That's great. um Super practical. And it gives you like a real life ah way in which you can go about solving problems. I mean, that's that's exactly what we do at work every day, right?
00:32:45
Frank Furbacher
um
00:32:45
Aldo
Exactly.
00:32:45
Frank Furbacher
I will say this. um There is a Center for Design Thinking that's currently part of Manhattanville.
00:32:52
Aldo
Mm-hmm.
00:32:54
Frank Furbacher
And it was it was ah couple of years after we had left that this um you know Center for Design Thinking was put into place.
00:32:55
Aldo
Nice.
00:33:03
Frank Furbacher
But um it is something that I looked at and when I heard about it, when I learned more about it, I actually said to myself, I really wish this was at Manhattanville when we were there because I would have
00:33:14
Aldo
when we were there.
00:33:16
Frank Furbacher
I would have done everything possible to like do this. Cause i i see it now, right? And it's based on, you know, human centered design, which is, um you know, you as a CX person, sitting me as a CX consultant, like that's everything we do is trying to put the customer at the center ah of every single decision or or design that we make.
00:33:36
Frank Furbacher
um But to see the design thinking process that they do with students and I've had the opportunity to speak with some students, um ah by going in and just sharing like what I do in my role, which is so much of it is you know design thinking based.
00:33:52
Frank Furbacher
um but
00:33:53
Aldo
um Oh, i couldn't agree i couldn't agree with you more. I mean, in my and my role, ah or I should say my career within CX, which has been yeah close to 10 years now, um I've gone from you know doing the doing um to now heading up the CS org within the startup. And um it's It's an interesting problem to solve and I find it very gratifying because you're you're working with...
00:34:30
Aldo
you youre Obviously, youre the customer is at the center, but you're trying to you're trying to juggle between the product that you're building or that your company is building
00:34:31
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
00:34:42
Aldo
understanding the nuances of the value that that's being, or so supposedly trying to deliver.
Career in Startups and Tech: Insights and Advice
00:34:49
Aldo
But then as the market evolves and as your customer evolves, trying to match or be at the same pace in terms of the evolution of the product and the evolution of ah of of the customer.
00:35:00
Aldo
and And it's, it's what I like about it. It's a consistent change. So you're consistently evolving your customer. Therefore you're consistently trying to apply change management within your, the own organization.
00:35:12
Aldo
in the evolution of the product, but you're ultimately also instilling change management efforts within your customer's way of thinking.
00:35:14
Frank Furbacher
so
00:35:18
Aldo
Because I don't know how your experience has been, but when it comes to ah purchasing a tool, I don't know if you've gone through that, but like if you're in ah in an in a in a position where your company is looking or your department is looking to acquire and a new tech stack, whether that be in FinTech or whether it be in project management or what have you,
00:35:39
Aldo
it's ah It's not just, oh, plugin plug in, plug out, plug in. You really have to completely flip the script and, okay, this is now gonna mean that we're gonna work this way, this way, and this way because we're introducing this new tool.
00:35:51
Aldo
And many companies, or at least in my experience, don't come with that concept or that will frame thinking. So you kind of have to, which I'm sure in your efforts of being a consultant, you're constantly trying to, you know, Hey, yeah, I get that you're wanting, you're wanting to do this, but really we have to think about the implication of changing that across your organization.
00:36:13
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, I would say so much of um what I do with customer experience is based on thinking long term about the decisions that we're making, ah not sacrificing the short term just because we think that it's going to be good for now.
00:36:24
Aldo
Hmm.
00:36:27
Aldo
Yep.
00:36:31
Frank Furbacher
um
00:36:31
Aldo
Mm.
00:36:32
Frank Furbacher
It takes a lot of commitment and it takes a lot of discipline to try to design experiences that are going to allow the organization to, you know, what we try to do is reflect the experience with the brand.
00:36:47
Frank Furbacher
And um it's much easier said than done when it comes to, ah you know, the work that I've done.
00:36:51
Aldo
um
00:36:55
Frank Furbacher
It's... it's Super easy to say, oh, we'll just rely on our brand name and like you know we'll just try to get by with the experiences that we provide to customers. But to take a step back right and say, are...
00:37:09
Frank Furbacher
ah we are the experiences that we provide to our customers. That's who our brand is. um
00:37:15
Aldo
yeah Close to it, yeah.
00:37:16
Frank Furbacher
But tell me, like ah you you know you spent you you're a founding member of a CX team. You go um from one startup to another. um Tell me about, like you you've stuck in with CX for 10 years now or close to it.
00:37:30
Frank Furbacher
um What does it... What does it mean to you like what is what does What does working in that type of role, um what kind of impact do you have across the organization? um Would love to hear more on that.
00:37:44
Aldo
um Great question. um So so it's it's funny, but within the CX within the cx community, i don't i don't know if you've gotten this, but we're often called the octopus of the organization because we touch on so many different aspects of the org.
00:38:02
Aldo
um When it comes to CX, I kind of have to go at it in parallel with startup life, scale-up life. um I spent time working in and large orgs, not my cup of tea. it's it's It's like watching paint dry.
00:38:19
Aldo
I was going crazy. ah But within a startup, it's no two days are the same. And that to me is...
00:38:28
Aldo
key in in in wanting to stay within a work. So within a startup, it's like it's it's constant change. It's constant fixing or finding or or figuring out how to solve this particular problem.
00:38:42
Aldo
It's not, okay, there's already a playbook that's been defined, just, you know, apply it and that's it. That's way too boring, at least for me. um working with people at the end of the day is a big component to tab because you're, you're, you're dealing with a person who's trying to solve for a problem that they are having, or at least, you know, within my field, they're buying a tool, subscribing to something that is ultimately going to provide them with a solution to a problem that they're trying to solve for.
00:39:01
Frank Furbacher
you
00:39:13
Aldo
and help them grow as well as, ah you know, build, help their business expand and scale. You know, many of our the customers that I've worked with have been startup ah ah people as well.
00:39:25
Aldo
They've been a scale up as well. And so when you know that you're having that level of impact um in working and and understanding different the different problems that these people are trying to solve through, at least by implementing your tool, then then that's a, I love being in that middle zone.
00:39:42
Frank Furbacher
you.
00:39:43
Aldo
um When it comes to like, you know, as ah as ah as I've stepped into leadership, um building up people and helping them, you know, build up the strengths that they have and ultimately um help them in their careers is something that I also find, you know really important.
00:40:05
Aldo
really rewarding. I've worked with some amazing people in my time here. Um, people that have both challenged me for professionally in terms of, you know, I, I can't come into a room and and and assume that I have all the answers. That's, that's, that's not the way I manage. That's not the way I lead. And I come with an idea. Everybody comes with an idea and you put your idea on the table and everybody has a chance to poke a hole, uh, or poke holes to it.
00:40:34
Aldo
and we figure out which is the better idea that's gonna provide the most value for us, but also for our product, our business and our customer. And so that aspect to customer experience, that aspect to startup life is incredibly, it's tough.
00:40:51
Aldo
I'm not going to lie. like Like if you're ever, if have you ever been involved in a startup, you know what that's like. That's that's nonstop. that's It's not a nine to five. It's it's it's a constant thing. You're getting slacked.
00:41:04
Aldo
at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning, you are meeting a customer from New Zealand at 5 o'clock in the morning because that's their time zone and you still don't have team members or or the bandwidth to, I should say, the headcount to have people in in in New Zealand just yet or at least closer to New Zealand that can take on that that customer call um and provide them with the consultation that they need.
00:41:29
Aldo
um You're in a room with developers, engineers, product managers, and you're figuring out, well, what's the best version of this next feature that we're trying to build? And what are our customers saying? And analyzing the data based on customer feedback, not subjective, but objectively.
00:41:47
Aldo
And yeah, um building a product that can continuously deliver value. that the customer will just want to continue using. So all of that. I know I said a lot there, but all of those things and everything in between is what I find ah very interesting about working within CX, within SaaS, and in Startup Life.
Final Advice to Students and Conclusion
00:42:06
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, I mean, it keeps you engaged, right? Like keeps you interested in the work.
00:42:09
Aldo
Yeah?
00:42:11
Frank Furbacher
And there's a there's always that next thing that you need to do or implement or ah figure out, which is which creates like a almost like a every day is a problem solving problem.
00:42:25
Aldo
Exactly.
00:42:26
Aldo
Yeah, exactly.
00:42:26
Frank Furbacher
yeah ah
00:42:28
Frank Furbacher
you know puzzle that you have to put together, which is really cool. um Aldo, what else? What did I not ask you about that you want to share with everyone?
00:42:38
Aldo
um
00:42:40
Aldo
i think there was one one thing that you may have shared with me before. Advice for current students. Yeah. So and I think that if I can hit on that...
00:42:51
Aldo
As much fun and as great of an experience that I had in my time at Manhattanville, um i had i had ah i had a had a great bunch of friends, um had some great experiences, some not so great, due to you know poor choices, poor decision making.
00:43:13
Aldo
ah you know Everybody's human. ah But ultimately, when looking back, um always I always felt like I could have done this a little bit better or maybe I could have taken this course or maybe I could have gone this you know this this career path, etc.
00:43:32
Aldo
But as i've as I've grown up and as I've matured, um i yeah i got to look back and say that
00:43:42
Aldo
I had to do, i did what I had to do at the time and I made the decisions that I had to do at the time, you know, maybe leaning a little bit too, at the you know, looking back in some cases, I felt like, oh, I leaned too heavily on the social aspects.
00:43:55
Aldo
Oh, I, you know, party too much or was more concerned with, you know, dating and hooking up and whatever. Right. But it's part of the college experience and When looking back on it now, i kind of i kind of have to say like, that's what was was well what I wanted to get out of it.
00:44:14
Aldo
um So my advice to anybody that's currently going through their college life and in this case, university life in Manhattanville, um
00:44:26
Aldo
take the time to enjoy you know you you the time that you have in college and university right now, which is go to the party, have the drink,
00:44:32
Frank Furbacher
Thank
00:44:35
Aldo
you know, um go on the date, break up, do whatever it is that you're you're needing to do to, you know, find yourself because that's what ultimately I ended up and ended up doing. I didn't know who Aldo was, you know, at 17, 18, 19 when going through my college experience ah um going through heartbreak, you know, figure well what what you think is heartbreak at that time, right? Like ah your world's ending and having that extra shot. You shouldn't be ah going going to Thirsty Thursdays and doing 25 cent wings at what was the what was the place and in town? I can't remember now. but
00:45:12
Aldo
um But balance it out. You know, if ah if if you're going to go if you're going to go hard one day in on the social side, go hard the next day on the academic side.
00:45:26
Aldo
Be heavily involved with your community. give back as much as you can. Just be really just, you know, play around with all of your options and try to figure out as much as you can, not just what you like, but what you thought you didn't like that you may end up liking or vice versa.
00:45:42
Aldo
um And be proactive about it. I think I was a little too gung ho with just, I'm just going wake up today and do whatever I wanted to do. Kind of vibe. So um yeah, be a little bit to not to sound like a total geek, but just apply a little project management to it.
00:46:00
Aldo
Just make a list of what you want to do and what you should do and split it down the middle.
00:46:06
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, it's well put. Getting involved and kind of giving yourself things to do forces you to prioritize and it forces you to ah spend time in areas that are pretty much all over campus, which is really cool.
00:46:14
Aldo
Yeah.
00:46:22
Frank Furbacher
Well, I'll do. Thank you so much for your time today. um I thought this was so cool to hear about your background. It's um so unique ah in terms of ah people in my circle. So i'm I'm so happy that I got to learn more about what you've been up to since school. And it's it was so great to speak to you.
00:46:41
Aldo
Same here, Frank. I appreciate you reaching out. And this was really, was really cool. lot of fun. um And I hope you, you end up getting more and more people on the, on the, on the, on the, on the podcast.
00:46:56
Aldo
Valley talks. I like it.
00:46:57
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
00:46:58
Aldo
Good stuff.
00:46:58
Frank Furbacher
Yeah. We'll see. All right, Aldo. Thank you so much.
00:47:00
Aldo
It was great. cat And it was great. Great catching up. Great catching up, Frank. Thanks so much for this.
00:47:04
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
00:47:05
Aldo
All
00:47:05
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.