Entrepreneur Intel

Wes: I'm super

So I'm super excited today. Um, it's amazing that I get to sit here and interview some really cool

people, but I'm really

excited to have you on today.

But at first I'm gonna

introduce,

um, our guest today. He is a talented entrepreneur whose first company Lumen

Legal,

was successfully exited in

2020.

He is a two time recipient

of the Inc.

500 award. And I want to stress 500,

not 5, 000.

500 is a huge deal. That's

a big

deal. So author of

the books Unbound and Legal

Visionaries. Co founder of

Living Liver Foundation and the Global School of

Entrepreneurship.

He

is also the

former

global,

former former global chair of EO organization, which has been a huge part

of my life.

Uh, he's entrepreneurial, entrepreneur emeritus at the

Edward Lowe Foundation in Michigan.

That's another great story. Welcome Dave Galbinsky.

David Galbenski: Oh man, I'm so honored to be on,

Wes. And thank you for bringing your energy to a podcast to share, you know, entrepreneurial stories,

right? All the, I've seen a lot of

your

sessions, man, and there's some cool

entrepreneurs, so man, I'm honored to be on, baby.

So I can't

Wes: We are the, you're, you're, you're one of the

coolest ones, right? I always talk about top 5%, bottom 5%, like you're definitely in my top 5%. There's so many so many other things that I could go

on and on about

you, but I got

to start by asking you, I asked this question to everybody before we get going, you know, you've been an entrepreneur,

you've been doing this for about 31 years.

You know, what's the most important lesson you've learned thus

far?

David Galbenski: Yeah. Wow. That, That's a great

question. Right. And I think about

it, you know, I started being an entrepreneur when

I was, you know, 24 years old,

right. You know, fresh

out of law school, figuring

out, You know, I'm going to be an entrepreneur, right?

And

so when I think about

that trajectory of a journey, I always think kind of in,

you know, rules

of three, right? Cause that's what we remember. And so I'm big into acronyms

because I can't keep everything in my head

all the time. So I'm going to give it in three P's that I've

learned along the way. The first is

if I can align. My passion with a purpose, and I can put that in the place of most potential.

I've increased my odds of

success in whatever I do, right?

But I think it's ultra critical to entrepreneurial success, whether it's in a for profit enterprise or some

of the stuff I'm doing now and not for profit through the living liver

is putting it through that filter, right? Because we have

finite time. For us to make an

impact in our own entrepreneurial journey and in our

lives. So I'm putting that

filter together to say, what am I passionate about?

What is it? How does it? align with my purpose inside that entity that I'm creating?

And then be

very intentional about where am I placing myself in the place of most potential. And if I align

those three things, I've increased the odds of success.

impact.

And of course, if I'm running, you know, an entrepreneurial

enterprise, creating enterprise value, community

impact, employee

engagement. And so

that's the filters that I've learned along the way. Didn't have it nailed when I

was 24 years old in my mom and

dad's basement, launching a company with 2000 bucks,

right?

But that's what I've learned in that journey.

Wes: passion, purpose, purpose,

placement, love it. We probably

just saved people like 20

years of banging their head against the wall.

Um, so talk a little bit about

that. So I'm assuming that Lumen Legal, was

that the first company?

Did you start this in your mid twenties or was that your first crack at entrepreneurship?

David Galbenski: And then probably like

most entrepreneurs, right? I was shoveling snow. I was doing all kinds of stuff on the side as a

kid, little gigs, selling t shirts at college, right? But the first formal

enterprise

was Lumen Legal. And in my, passion there, right. I went to law school,

undergrad

business, but I really

didn't have a

passion for practicing law, Wes.

I

did it. I got a law degree, but I realized

I was probably going to be

a B plus. To C plus lawyer, right?

And that's just what I aspire to be. So I really started to say,

how could I

use my legal

training align around a

purpose, and I love the

concept of,

which became Lumen Legal is we allowed people to engage in the legal

services industry, In the way that they want it, maybe less than full time was one of our offerings.

So we allowed someone

to have a different lifestyle. So my purpose was

I was allowing a lawyer to engage in the legal services

industry in something

different than an all or nothing proposition, which in the nineties was what law

was You were either all

in

or you weren't

able

to. And at that time there was a significant transition, Wes, in the composition of law school

classes. It had

turned. About 50 50 gender wise, right? And it wasn't a gender

play, but then some of our lawyers

wanted to, when they were assuming child rearing responsibilities, whether it was a male or female, wanted less

than full time in legal.

It didn't

exist. So Lumen

became

a purpose for us

to provide those career opportunities for our clients. For lawyers, whether male or female, that were assuming child rearing responsibilities to engage in law, make a living.

So it was early on this fractional, you know, enterprise that has emerged over

time. So that was

my purpose. My passion was entrepreneurship because I realized I love creating enterprises. And so what I then decided to do is where's the place of most potential? Well, it was inside an industry like legal that was very backward looking.

Very regulated, wasn't changing. I'm

like, I'm going to put myself there and make a

difference. And that's when I started to learn those lessons of passion, purpose, place of most potential that allowed

us to scale that company over time.

Wes: And how taboo was that in the nineties? Right. I mean, you have like, I'm just assuming, right. Putting on my like regular

normal

hat, there's like this path

of attorneys,

but you're like, nah, I'm going to go this way. And you're talking. The nineties and what you're doing super disrupted. I mean, How many

naysayers, how many people thought you were just absolutely nuts.

David Galbenski: They thought I was

crazy. They thought I was crazy.

They're

like, you know, what kind of lawyer would want to work part time? The quality must be horrible. You know, what are you going to do?

Right. So it's

overcoming all of those objections.

And what was amazing, right.

Is what we see today, fast forward

30 years,

right? You know, when you're like, that's just normally accepted.

So we were blazing a trail. Educating people, evangelizing it. But what we had was

talented, committed lawyers that delivered

results. We wouldn't have

been

successful other than the lawyers we were able to recruit that

said, I'm going to make this

work. And they worked their

tails

off to convince others.

So they were then blazing the trails for the lawyers today, which I love as the outcome is.

they can work whenever, wherever, however, create value for their family and create value for the enterprise they're working

for. And again, we've seen it across

every

discipline. We were just focused in legal, and there were lots of

other people blazing the trail with

us, but it was neat to

be able to create those

opportunities for others as well as create an enterprise that had economic value along the way.

Wes: So was it always part of your vision to exit that company? I mean, exiting

in 2020,

was that always part of the original idea, or that just sort of naturally

happened or?

David Galbenski: Yeah, no, that's a great question. So I'll kind of give you my philosophy on building

companies that I learned over time is,

I think there's always when you're running a

company, whether it's 10, 15, 20 years, there are external

economic cycles that will provide

opportunities for

you to exit, right? It just happens.

It's going to go up and down. Capital is going to be available. Economic waves are going to be different. Consolidation is going to happen

over

time. And what I realized is there were usually waves of three to seven years when there might be a time for us to sell our organization, right?

So

first 10, 12, 15 years, we had offers to come in.

They never were not the right things. We're like, no, it's

not the

time. But I started to realize that there were

cycles, levels of

interest. Level out. So then as we started to get along the

way, I had one intersecting thought that gave me clarity about now is the time to consider exiting

and building that enterprise value.

And that was an external health issue

that I'm free to talk about,

which resulted in the Living Liver Foundation,

which I began to suffer from a rare

autoimmune disease that I knew at

some point, whether it was a year, um,

a decade or several

decades, I would need a liver transplant to stay alive. So we got very

clear of a time horizon that we needed

to exit. And we knew we had a, probably a couple

cycles, but what we wanted to

do was be very intentional that when that economic cycle hit us, we

That we

had an enterprise That we felt we could get within 80

percent of, if you will, maximum valuation. You're never going to exit at

the peak, but you're like, here's the

number we could take it to market and

exit. And it just so happened as we were moving through that phase, we put

in place a five year plan in 2016. And then we

said in this timeline, we hope to be able to have the economic, Wins up and sell the

company. And we did

not knowing that there'd be

a pandemic

that interceded, but we were in an industry, luckily, because

I've had so many peers that we're in an

industry that was so negatively impacted. And I don't take that for granted. We were in a technology enabled

industry that allowed us

to maintain value and get that sale

done in the teeth of a pandemic at the same price we

had, got under LOI on.

Wes: so I Well, so I want to

put on, pin in that. Definitely want to unpack that.

But the last

question I have around Lumen is

Inc. 5000, a lot of associates I

know and EO

members and entrepreneurs get on the Inc. 5000. Yeah, Inc. Inc. 500. Like that's a, that's a big deal. I'm not discounting any award about Inc. 5000, but the Inc. 500

to me, like that,

that is a serious award. Like, what did that mean to you? What was that process

like?

David Galbenski: Yeah, that's great. I

mean, so we go through a mix of emotions,

right? Uh, when when, I launched the company, I set targets and

one of them was to get on the Inc. 500. So we earned it two years in a row.

Um,

in the early 2000s and it was a

target. We're like, we're going to grow rapidly. That's what we're going to do.

We're going to put our mark out there.

And we

did, and we achieved it two years in a row.

So the feeling

was one of

accomplishment. One of we set out on a goal. We did it.

Exhilarating ride,

Fast growth I

realized

is like being on one of the craziest rollercoaster rides. In the world,

right? Because you're outstripping your own leadership capacity.

We're outstripping our

ability to generate the quality that we wanted.

And quite frankly, the biggest risk into that level of growth

is we outstripped

our cash

capacity,

right? So we literally, by growing that way,

actually put our company at risk. Cause I didn't understand at that time,

which I now know is their There's a rate, I don't know

exactly what it is, but there's a rate

where you

put your company more at risk than you should to chase growth. And now I know

that I want to always

be cognizant of what that is,

because when you go through those

growth periods, you then keep, it's intoxicating. Let's keep growing. And you're not really realizing, Oh my

gosh, I'm giving more risk because I'm not backfilling capital,

et cetera. So that was the greatest learning of

risk because then we

started to

take on. More risk. I then pivoted two years

later to go global with an outsourced model from India because that was the next

hottest thing. So we were doing lawyers in the United

States. So then I got

this hubris of like, I'm an Inc. 500. Let's go global, baby.

Let's get some, you know, relationships in India. I traveled to India, extensively vetted partners.

We get rolling. And then you're

like, managing a global enterprise? Whoa, I don't have the

infrastructure.

and it's 12 and a half hours

difference. Cause India is on a half hour difference to the U S and certain areas, like what did I just

do? And at that point made some significant investments, rebranding, you know, doing

all kinds of stuff that literally in 2006, a couple of years after we had done that, we're like, we're in some significant financial distress

that was caused by the growth and the

ambition that then caused us to

go lesson learned,

Let's figure this out.

And so those things to unpack for your listeners,

right, is

growth is awesome. If you're chasing revenue, which is the Inc 5, 500, be cognizant that cash burn is there.

And even though we're having the success feeling good,

it's a rollercoaster ride fraught with increased risk. Know that going in, great goal, but understand those are some of the downsides of that really cool award that I felt very proud of.

Wes: No, that's No, that's really cool. like the first thing that jumps out to me in my mind for whatever

reason is we're

talking about 2006 2006 and and

I think that's when the iPhone

came out. So like email, fax machines, I mean, we're talking a completely different world at that size and scale. Like it kind of.

it's

hard to kind of think about like that size and scale without the type of technology we have.

And

as as you're doing all this,

is this while you were the global chair of this huge organization with over

10, 000 entrepreneurs

David Galbenski: Yeah. What a riot. right? What a riot. So I joined the EO board, uh, the Entrepreneurs Organization Global Board. Uh, in 2006, right? So, you know, I'd done the local chapter level

for your listeners that know you run a

local

chapter. So in, I'm in Detroit, so I did forum chair, membership, president, went on the

global and then joined the

global board. So I had a three year

term, which culminated in being

chair in 2008 and 2009. The great

recession. How cool. I'm traveling the globe, 20 some odd years.

During the global Great Recession, trying to run a fast growth

business. So amazing leadership opportunity learned a ton, right? But certainly then you're into

that next phase

of uniqueness, right? And again, since we're talking about Entrepreneurial Journey, West 2008 nine. Wow! Massive Great Recession impacted every business,

right? It impacted mine. Two of our

customers,

in Detroit. We're two of the largest automakers, General Motors and Chrysler at the time. Obviously a different name today,

Chrysler after mergers. Um, we were

a legal staffing and outsourcing company. As an entrepreneur, when you're in that business, you're in essence, advancing credits in the form of wages advanced. And you get paid 90 to 120 days later for all the lawyers we had out on assignment with Well, for those of you know,

Chrysler and General Motors went bankrupt.

in 2008 and 2009,

and they were two significant customers

that we were creditors to,

But we were

unsecured creditors.

And you know what they do with unsecured creditors when you go into bankruptcy? You don't get your bills

paid. So we'd advanced literally hundreds of thousands,

And it might even have been more than a million

dollars. I try to blank that out.

Wes: Yeah, Yeah,

David Galbenski: that went unpaid that we already paid our lawyers for that.

We never got

paid for it. So you think about the economic

impact that we then were

going through at that time.

quite

stunning that literally, you know, we were, In a significant scenario where we're like, wow, we

just lost a ton of money, not through our

own fault that we got to then build on. And so it's

just interesting times. I share that

as just the risk we take on as entrepreneurs that we're not even aware of. We're advancing money to the world's largest corporations by taking

on the risk. It's a conundrum I'll never

understand, but interesting. It's how we run our

businesses.

Wes: of reminds me of like, at the end of the day, you're really not in control of anything.

Even I think

As entrepreneurs, you talk about cycles, right? You know, when you feel like you're on top of the mountain,

and boom,

you know, things

David Galbenski: Yeah.

Wes: you had a health, you have a health issue, your two biggest customers, you know, um,

so

thinking about that, like, and then in lieu of that, so a couple, a couple of questions I have around that,

you wrote a couple of books somewhere throughout that process,

Which

I want to touch on, but the one question I don't want to forget, it's do you know, to me, you're like, you're such an inspirational guy, you're super motivated, like you are a true entrepreneur. Do you have any regrets or anything like you sold your company?

So much of

you is probably in that company. Like, we're about what, four years since then. Well, it's crazy. to think

it's been four

years since, since the pandemic, but just

want to get your perspective on that. Cause I think the insight as an entrepreneur,

People

get offers, you know, when to sell,

sell your baby, but time, the cycle, like love to hear your share.

on

David Galbenski: Yeah. So I'll give you

two or three things that I learned during that sales

journey. One is when I get, when I got it, we got approached during that economic

cycle or that cycle that we're looking to sell by single buyer. And. We then ended up going through

a portion of sale with them and then stop doing it because we're like, it's not the right match.

And then we're like, why would we

sell our company that we built over 20 some odd years to someone that knocked on our

door without putting together a competitive bid? So that would have

been, if we would have gone through with that sale.

And the terms they were offering,

which were decent terms. I'm sure I would have had

regrets. Okay. So I lay that out

because sometimes that's often what

happens with us as entrepreneurs. Someone knocks on our

door, seems like a great fit. It couldn't turn out

perfectly for

us. It wouldn't have been the right

outcome. And then we went through

a, you know, signed an LOI, went through due diligence

and then

quickly said, Hmm, this doesn't make

sense. And we're able to

pull out.

Then we went through an investment banking process, courted 40

buyers,

narrowed it down to 15 that

had, you know,

interest, down to 6 or 7 that made quasi offers, and then 3 that we brought in as management

team. And between the terms that we

signed for the single buyer to the transaction terms that we signed on, it was a 50 percent premium for in purchase

price by simply going through

that

process.

Now, some of it was because

we continued to grow and we got a little bit of valuation there. But most of it was because of the competitive bid process. So that is the one

learning. So we would have had regret if we would have just sold to the single

Then I'll pivot to the emotional aspect of it.

That's the financial side, right? Awesome. The emotional side is always

one of how do I take

care of our people? um, ensuring that when we do make the transaction, that we feel comfortable with what our roles are and what we're going to do post exit. And so there, to me is some of the issues that we go through psychologically.

Loss, grief,

going through all those problems. And the question is

how quickly we go through those. As a quick start entrepreneur, uh, my wife and I ran the business. I probably went through those stages quicker than Lynn. Um, and she may have grieved that a little bit more. Uh, neither one is right nor wrong, but it's going to be an emotional journey of going

through that grieving process.

Wes: Yeah. Yeah.

I, you bring up a

good point that I forgot to ask.

Working with

your spouse.

did

you

work with

Lynn

Lynn the entire

time

through Lumen

Legal or

David Galbenski: Yeah, great question,

Wes. So, um, I founded the business with, uh, another lawyer, uh, in 1993, Mark Adams, who remained a,

uh, a small minority owner all the way through Exit. Incredible business partner, lawyer. Uh, amazing individual.

Um, uh, but I ran the enterprise. He was always a silent partner. Uh, I ran the enterprise through 2011, 2012, when Lynn joined the organization

after 15 years of working in Fortune 500 companies, worked at Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati,

uh, in brand management and then at General Motors. And then we realized the way we were going to really

unlock enterprise value. We got very conversant with

EOS terminology, visionary integrator. I was the visionary. Lynn is one of the most amazing integrators. And we started to realize when we saw that terminology, Wes, that that was the ability that if we could get on the same page, bring our skill sets together inside our family enterprise, as opposed to we're working in corporate America, kind of double down on the risk,

uh, running our own business, we would make that happen.

So joined in, you know, 2011, 2012. And then we went on that eight year run where we got very clear on EOS, put together that strategy, we're going to exit. And she unlocked the value. That's clear.

And that pairing it to me is ultimately so critical, or I may have the visionary stuff, but just like Roy and Walt Disney, the two together creates so much amazing impact.

So the lesson I tell every entrepreneur is find that integrator, whether it's your spouse, whether it's a good friend, whether you don't know them. They unlock the value for us visionaries.

Wes: Yeah. And that, and that concepts from a EOS, good book to look at is traction. What kind

of goes

in deep about visionary, integrator.

As soon as I learned that, changed my perspective, changed our business, my partnership with my partner, it

was like, Oh, we now kind of understand both and can put ourselves and give us labels, which

completely changed our life.

So tell the company in

2020 now, do you kind

of

Float through COVID or like, how do you, like, how do you get inspired now?

You're part of, you know, Living Liver Foundation. How do you segue from that event

of the sale of COVID into the next kind of phase?

David Galbenski: Yeah. So I'll fill in some of the details for the listeners, right? It was probably one of the most intense periods of time, Wes, in 2018, 2019. Right. So, um, in, uh, 2019, uh, I went on what's known as the transplant list, which means, My liver had started to fail to the point where I might need a transplant to stay alive, right?

So three things happened in a period of time. Um, you know, transplant list that I knew I was going to get a transplant. We were selling the company and COVID hit, right? So one of the most intense periods of times we went through. Uh, so I had a transplant surgery. November 25th, 2019, literally three or four months before the pandemic truly hit.

Um, we were in the midst of our due diligence process. The beauty of transplant, right, is I could work remotely. I moved through that process, right, was still contributing, you know, to the organization as I was recovering. But that was all happening simultaneously, right? So, um, amazing period of time, lots of lessons learned there.

And, um, when you think about it, so we exited July, 2020, we signed our LOI. On March 16th, 2020. And in the state of Michigan, I know you got a global broadcast. State of Michigan was when a lot of those restrictions were going into place the next day. You know, Hey, we're going into shutdown mode. Here's what's happening.

We signed the LOI the day before that happened

and then went through the due diligence process and closed on July 20th, one month beyond what they thought at the same terms and transaction price, very fortunate. So we then of course transitioned as employees to the acquiring company. For about eight months, it was an open ended position.

We chose to leave after eight months as employees, still maintain some shareholding in the ongoing enterprise, uh, that is still growing and scaling. Um, and then we said, what's next? And so that was then when we started to sort out what was next. And I use the same filter that I talk about. Passion, purpose, place the most potential.

And for me, that passion and purpose was. Thanks to the generosity of my brother in law, Mark, who gave me a portion of his liver. Yes, you can give a portion of your liver when you're alive to save the life of someone else. It regenerates in both of us to full size. Saved my life, full size liver. He continues to go on in his life, full size liver.

And then I said, passion and purpose. My purpose is I'm alive to pay the gift of life forward. My passion will be honoring Mark and every living donor that is an angel on earth, a hero. And I'm going to put myself in the place of most potential, which was in this case, launching the Living Liver Foundation.

With Lynn and paying that forward. So now we're about three things, honoring living donors, educating the public about the power and possibilities of living organ donation and inspiring others. To do the same with one goal. The vision is clear for us. By 2038, we will have eliminated the wait list for kidney and liver in the United States, if not the world, for things that we can control and humans can help us live by giving a living organ donation of a kidney or liver.

So that's our goal. Zero. So that the 17 people a day. And it's a global problem that die waiting for a deceased organ. So you align those three things. We're having a blast. We launched that in, uh, on February 14th, uh, Valentine's Day, 2020. It was actually the day that I was listed on the transplant list in 2019, February 14th.

So there was some significance to it.

Wes: Well, I'm excited

for you. I love the date. Cause I, I know what happens with you when you put goals out there, you tend to hit them, so super excited to kind of watch your journey there.

So like, what is, what is that, you know, part of my ignorance, like I, I know organs sometimes have to be a match. I mean, is it, is it any liver can go to any recipient or like, talk about

selfless gift of

your brother in law to like, talk, I guess a

two part

question that, but then like,

how, how does

that make you feel?

you know, coming out of that.

David Galbenski: Yeah. Amazing. So I'll start with the feeling first, right? Cause that's what we do as entrepreneurs and EOers, right? The feeling is I have never West been. more connected to an individual than my brother in law in ways I can't describe, right? Because he's a part of me. You know, um, I had my, my transplant from the, from the Motor City.

I had them, I transplanted Henry Ford Health, right? So one of the founders of the automotive company founded an amazing healthcare system where they have a great transplant institute. And so I often say my brother in law's last name is Dibus. My last name is Gelbenski. So I say, here's what happens. I'm Gelbenski. Powered by Dybus and I'm serviced and tuned up by Henry Ford Health because what that means is I'm connected to him. We're connected to the healthcare system that makes all of this possible. So I've never felt love. I've never felt more vulnerable. I've never felt more connected than having that experience of a living, um, organ donation, right?

And people ask me, Wes, if you could wave a magic wand and make your diagnosis go away from 2013 and this journey that you've been on for 11 years. Healthcare journey and make it go away. Would you do it? And I answer emphatically,

no, because I was meant to go on that journey and I'm living in extra innings over time, whatever your special analogy is, with a great trajectory over decades because of what Mark gave to me, it's my obligation to pay that forward and I wouldn't change it because it's shaped who I am today.

And I'm meant here to align my passion and purpose in the place of most potential, which in one area is. Our Living Liver Foundation. And we're having a blast doing it again, just a riff on that passion purpose. I've loved baseball, Wes, since I've been seven years old and I walked into my first stadium, right?

And so what we're doing is living donor awareness games where we honor, educate, inspire. And so we've got a neat event coming up here in the near term where we're going to do three living donor baseball games at the major league level in 24 hours. The Atlanta Braves. The Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies will bring out amazing stories.

They'll throw out the first pitch from a living donor to a recipient.

Great visual metaphor, right? They're both alive. Dispels the myth that you got to be a deceased organ donor. They're throwing the first pitch. They're active and healthy, right? And so we're using that platform of my passion to deliver my purpose.

And where are we putting ourselves? In the place of most potential in a major league baseball park with tens of thousands of people there. To spread the word about that. So again, using those three things and whatever we do, it amplifies what we're trying to do. So those are the things that I'll stitch together, uh, in terms of how I feel connected, how the foundation is then connected to my passion and purpose and what I'm trying to take forward.

Wes: That's really

cool. I mean, there's so much here, but I just love how entrepreneurs, it's just how the entrepreneurial brain works. Like, does it ever go off? What do you, what do you do to relax? They're like, how do you just love it? Take it all in and yeah, you just have such a cool like

you're just

on and you go and yeah, the awesome stuff that you you know,

boy, how do you like as a successful guy?

I mean,

you're, you're one of the most successful people I've ever met in my life.

How, do you,

how do you take Dave time? You know? Yeah,

David Galbenski: no, it's, it's great point. So I have other passions, right? So I love golf. I love running, uh, and running is my sacred space, right? Because I think that's where I do my meditation, right?

So for me, it's running, um, and taking time to try to stay as physically fit as possible to, you know, honor number one, my living donor. Give me that mental health space. So I try to do that, right? Um, as much as I can is to stay fit and keep my mental health there together. Uh, and that's probably what I do the most of is just give some time there.

Uh, and then, you know, enjoy golf, enjoy running, enjoy time with family, uh, and try to manage that and build a life by design. Do I do it perfectly? No. You know, sometimes I'll get out of whack and Lynn will have to say, Dude, you're taking on a lot of stuff, man. You're, you're visionary stuff. You gotta, you gotta stop filling the bucket, baby.

And so she's my soulmate and, and person that really knows, Hey, this is when you got to dial it back a little bit. So I think we always need someone in our lives that can tell us the truth of when we make it, our visionary a little bit too much leaning into it. And we got to dial it back. And so I'm, I'm grateful that I have someone like that in my life.

That I love and respect and has the ability to go, Dave, you're a little bit, you're a little bit getting out on your skis a little bit, pull it back a little bit. And we, I think we all need that.

Wes: What's really cool for me, like

doing the podcast, I've had the opportunity to, like, I've really discovered a lot of entrepreneurs and like their passion and their nonprofit projects, which I really

didn't know, I had the

opportunity of

talking

to Chris Lambert. He's

doing a lot of Detroit. Um, I just had, uh, Maggie Varney from Wigs for Kids. Awesome. Uh, Out of us, uh,

St.

Clair, and now I have you on and I gotta ask,

like, What's a

good ask or how can anybody support, help deliver,

you know,

the

Liver Foundation? I'm

really interested there.

David Galbenski: Yeah, I mean, for us right now, it's, you know, we're all about just spreading awareness. I mean, obviously if they want to donate, great, but that's not why we do it. It's about spreading awareness around the fact that you can save a life today for kidney and liver, right? And just spreading that knowledge is huge to us because all we're trying to do in telling stories, Wes, we know storytelling is the key currency, right?

If we can tell stories of heroes that are stepping forward That may inspire someone to think about it. The minute we plant a seed and they think about it, it becomes a possibility. And that's all we want is because we know there are heroes out there that go, I could do that. I'm fit. I'll find a match, whether it, you know, and again, you'd ask the question, how do you have a match?

You know, on the liver side you got to have blood type match. You got to have, An anatomical match of the size of liver and how it hooks up. And you got to go through a battery, a test, and then they make sure it all fits together. Um, but people could do it. So the best way is just to, number one, be aware that you can donate a kidney and a liver, find stories that you can tell, and then ponder it.

Is that what you think you could do for someone else? Because we're seeing a lot of heroes stepping forward and doing it, and it's the most amazing gift people give. And here's what we find out when we talk to living donors, Wes. They say it's actually changed them for the better. They're actually grateful that way they went through it.

Their mental health is better. Their outlook on life is better. Their physical fitness is better. They're all of that because they trained to become a living donor. And they're like, I can't believe it. This is amazing. It enhances their life, which is what I'll call that unintended beautiful consequence of their gift not expecting anything in return for their But that's the universe giving back to them in them going, wow, I feel great.

Cause I did it. And that's almost. Universal for living donors. That's what they say. They report a higher level of life satisfaction because of what they did

Wes: Yeah, I mean to me it seems like as you're talking about this I'm wrecking my brain like I've never really heard of the concept in front of me out of all the content of media I see I don't really see anything.

I'm super excited on your mission and excited to watch you

Get

there along the way. But I also, before we wrap, I want to talk a little bit about GSCA.

David Galbenski: Yeah.

Wes: Because I, for me, again, I think it may be listeners, maybe to the podcast.

David Galbenski: Yeah. It's

Wes: a very unconventional route,

right? So

all my friends went away

to four year

schools.

They all had really fancy degrees and, you know, Their parents are like, you need to be a doctor and a lawyer. And I kind of went down this like

path

and the path of like four or five years for community college. And I kind of always knew I'd be

an entrepreneur, a lot

of naysayers,

But

I think what you're doing on GSCA is really amazing.

I'd love for you to share the passion there.

David Galbenski: Oh man, I'd love to. Again, lines, passion, purpose, place, the most potential, right? Right along with living liver. So what we're doing there with the Global School of Entrepreneurship, it's Disruptive Digital MBA. education that's accredited, man. And here's the deal.

It's by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs, with entrepreneurs. So it doesn't get any better than that, man. It's pure peerness. And what we're doing is we are able to deliver in a 18 month to two year experience, an accredited MBA in a cohort model of eight to 10 other peer entrepreneurs. In a live lecture series that checks all the boxes of accredited MBAs.

So someone is getting exposure to the same type of concepts. The same type of learning styles as anyone that would go to any other digital MBA program or on campus program. But we're doing it with other entrepreneurs in a small cohort that we view it as what we call catalytic learning. We're feeding that content in that then the entrepreneurs get to discuss how does it apply to their business.

So theory catalyzes their discussion. How do we apply it to an entrepreneurial enterprise? And we do it in a way that an entrepreneur can consume it. It's online so they can do it when they're running 60, 70 hours a week. They're doing it with other entrepreneurs. So they're getting their juice from other entrepreneurs in a nice small cohort.

And we stretch it out over an 18 to 24 month period, kind of one class a month. There's homework pre, homework post. It's pass fail. It doesn't matter. Learn the content. Demonstrate proficiency. It doesn't matter are you A, B, or C. And we do it in what's known as the Oxford Tutorial Model, which is you discuss it and then you reflect on it to demonstrate your proficiency. 13 classes that fit all the categories of an MBA from leadership to marketing to accounting to finance. But in an entrepreneurial way. And then the last third, after those 13 classes, is called a capstone. And you get to work on something that's relevant to your business, which is the last third or 30 credits of the business.

Independently or bring in your peers or work with your leadership team to develop something that's critical for the business, or maybe you're launching a new enterprise and then you can build that capstone. I'll give you an example. One of our first graduates was building a new real estate development business, and he was going to need a replicable sales process.

So his capstone was developing. The sales playbook, all of it. So he spent his last 30 credits demonstrating proficiency and how do you sell? Right? What do you do? And he put it in a playbook that then when he was going to hand off to a sales team and scale his company.

So those are the very practical ways that we've redesigned it.

And we sit on a very disruptive university platform called Wolf. W O O L F University, and they have raised tons of VC money. They're disrupting the entire education industry, and they've got some of the most amount of students that they're delivering through their platform. And Global School of Entrepreneurship sits on top of it.

And we derive that curriculum. We've got all the regulatory and compliance handle, and you MBA akin to any brand name, because it's accredited Europe, in the U. S. And then it opens up Wes, all these cool opportunities. And one for a lot of entrepreneurs, Wes, is the ability to take that MBA. And gain entrance back to traditional academia to teach an entrepreneurship class

at community college or otherwise.

Wes: yeah, I love

it, right? Because again, it took me like

four or five years to get through a community college. So it

goes to my next question, which is what's the prerequisite?

I mean, like I've been an

entrepreneur for 15 years.

I've thought about going back to like But I got to get my, I got to do all these things and there's all this red tape.

Like

What are the requirements for an entrepreneur to go through this program?

David Galbenski: Yeah, great. So what's interesting is, uh, there in an accreditation, uh, process, uh, there's the ability for someone to demonstrate proficiency if they've been in a, an entrepreneurial enterprise or leadership position for seven years, that they could enter our MBA program without an undergraduate degree.

And that's anywhere, right? I mean, that's just not our enterprise. So if you're running an entrepreneurial enterprise, And you've been seven years, that can count for your undergraduate degree to gain admission to an MBA program. And so we can, people can enter that way. Of course, the traditional way, if they have an undergrad, they flow right in.

But that's a unique thing for a certain subset of entrepreneurs that are attracted to our program because we're able to take the school of hard knocks, seven years running an enterprise and go, that's equivalent to earning An undergraduate degree to get you into the MBA program. So that's a unique way to get in and then I'll talk a little bit Wes about what we'll call our Our avatars right the people that are seeking it that are entrepreneurs and why they're seeking an MBA program Like we're delivering and that is we hit on it someone that is highly successful as an entrepreneur Hasn't completed undergrad but wants that advanced degree.

That's one Area the second is I think we all suffer from it to a certain extent. Imposter syndrome. We may not have the external credentials as someone else. And boy, wouldn't it be great to have that comma MBA after our name to show, Hey, we know we're a good business person. Right? So we see that as well.

Uh, and then there's this, this man, you know what? I really want for my own personal fulfillment for whatever reason to demonstrate that. I can achieve something academically because maybe a lot of entrepreneurs just never liked traditional academia, but boy, they would love to know that I can succeed if the academic institution was designed for how I learn and how I get together and how I show up, because what we know is traditional academia is designed for a certain type of learner to succeed there, and a lot of times that doesn't overlap.

with the personality of entrepreneurs. So instead of adapting the entrepreneur to an academic enterprise,

we're adopting what you do is the, the, the academic institution to the entrepreneur. And that's the secret sauce to address those. And that's why we're excited about bringing it to entrepreneurs.

Wes: No, I'm super excited.

As I think about

it, I just

remember back

at like,

I knew I was a visionary and everybody else is an integrator. Like if you're good at school

and you're smart.

you're an

integrator,

But the, the, disruptive, the class clowns, the ones that are like, we don't know about that one.

David Galbenski: Like, we don't know about that Matthews guy, man.

He seems really bright, but he's caused a lot of problems in our class.

Wes: Uh,

and yeah, I got touched on the last thing

too. I mean, you have so much here, which is awesome. Like what is the Entrepreneur Emeritus at Edward Lowe Foundation? Like what does that mean to you?

David Galbenski: Yeah, well, it's another give back, right?

I've gone on the journey. How can I share my experience with the next generation of entrepreneurs? That's the goal of that title. That sounds fancy. It's just me giving back and they gave me a fancy title because I've been there, done it, right? Um, but the Edward Lowe Foundation is based in Michigan. It's kind of one of the best.

Kept secrets for second stage companies, which means companies that are between 1 million and 50 million, 10 employees and 99 employees. That sweet spot where a lot of us entrepreneurs reside. And it's a great story. Edward Lowe of the Edward Lowe Foundation invented kitty litter, a whole industry in 1947, he came up with clay as an absorbent when people used to use sawdust and cats were living outdoors, he said, there's got to be a better way because people would bring sawdust in their boxes in the house, cats would track around sawdust and like, this is crazy.

He came up with an absorbent clay. Found it, Then he went barnstorming around the country, drop it off bags of clay, as he said it, and then of course he innovated, made it happen, built it to an amazing enterprise, sold it to a major pet care company, and then he donated the vast majority of his wealth to form the Edward Lowe Foundation to help second stage entrepreneurs.

And so I'll go out there, facilitate retreats. They've got a suite of programming to help second stage entrepreneurs, and it's a fun resource. But the guy invented kitty litter. What a story. And he's given it back to help other entrepreneurs be with other entrepreneurs.

Wes: What a great story. Well, Dave, thank you so much.

I am so

honored to have you here.

Uh,

the main

things that stick out, Living Liver

And

GSEA, if anybody listening wants to reach out to you, how can people connect with you?

David Galbenski: Yeah, so I'm on, I'm on all the social media platforms, you know, LinkedIn, Facebook, et cetera. Uh, if they want to hit an email, last name's Galbenski. That's G A L B E N S K A I at gmail. com. Reach out, love to connect, man. It's awesome to be with other entrepreneurs.

Awesome.

And thanks for the great work you're doing, man. Thanks for having me on. I'm going to listen to your podcast now and forever more, man. Cause you get great guests on and I hope everyone else that's seeing this hit subscribe because this needs to get out there.

Not my session, but who else you got going out there? They need to see who you got coming on because you got rock stars coming on. I know given your network.

Wes: Awesome, man. Well, hey. Dave, thanks again, man. I appreciate it.

David Galbenski: Thank you.

Wes: We'll see you

later.