\u201cIt chose me more than I chose it,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n
In high school, Noble lived in Finland to play hockey and go to school. This formative experience provided him not only with lifelong friends and memories, but an attitude which shuns asking the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re willing to go live in Finland at 15, there\u2019s not much you won\u2019t try,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n
This attitude has served Noble well as he navigated his circuitous career path.<\/p>\n
Finding Value<\/strong><\/p>\n Noble worked as a securities lawyer for about five years, starting on Wall Street and later moving to North Carolina. After witnessing the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the day before he was supposed to start work, Noble realized he needed to make a change. Learn what you want through trial and error and unrelentingly try to do it — David Noble<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/p>\n \u201cI had more to contribute than moving paper from one side of the desk to the other,\u201d Noble says. \u201cI didn\u2019t see a connection to how I was improving the world.\u201d<\/p>\n After working as a lawyer for six years, Noble decided to pursue his Ph.D. Before then, he had only previously taken one business course, but his transition to academic began by earning his MBA at Elon University. He would go on to the University of Alabama and earn a Ph.D. in business management.<\/p>\n From early in his academic career, Noble knew he wanted to work with students.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s those connections,\u201d Noble says. \u201cI find that [interaction] to be what inspires me and makes me wake up and want to do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n Noble says everyone, whether entrepreneur, researcher, or anything else, should spend time figuring out what they want to spend their lives doing even if their path isn\u2019t linear, as was the case for him.<\/p>\n \u201cLearn what you want through trial and error and unrelentingly try to do it, or life sucks,\u201d Noble says. \u201cI wake up and I’m happy. I know what I\u2019m achieving and when I’m helping and that provides a lot of meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n Keys to Success <\/strong><\/p>\n Over the years, Noble has learned there are many factors that influence an aspiring entrepreneur\u2019s success. Aside from curiosity, a strong work ethic, and a willingness to act, external factors also influence who succeeds.<\/p>\n One important variable is timing. Noble points to the example of Pets.com, a notoriously failed business that sold pet supplies online. While Pets.com failed in the early 2000s, businesses like Chewy, which perform the same services, are now thriving.<\/p>\n \u201cTechnology wins in the long run. The world evolves,\u201d Noble says. \u201cBut it\u2019s about the timing. In 2000, we didn\u2019t want to buy our dog food on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n Another important factor is having insights about what makes one venture succeed and another fail.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need that set of experiences that allow for pattern recognition,\u201d Noble says. \u201cTo me that\u2019s more exciting \u2013 pulling those patterns out of the noise.\u201d<\/p>\n Noble sees more connections between entrepreneurs and academic researchers than one would expect. Both go through an exhaustive process of trial and error, facing a slew of rejections until finally achieving the breakthrough they\u2019ve waited for.<\/p>\n \u201cSuccessful entrepreneurs were failed entrepreneurs until the moment they succeeded,\u201d Noble says. \u201cAny time you get rejected, that [failure] should be embraced as a learning moment.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the greatest problems for academic researchers is that their research is often not successfully translated to the market. Noble recommends researchers, counterintuitively, should sell their technology as soon as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople like to tinker and toy and never go and sell,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n For a product to be successful, it needs to not only be better, but provide enough value to incentivize people to replace their old product.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople always think a better mouse trap sells, but it has to create more value,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n Noble explains that most projects students create in his classes never become more than an assignment. But students can learn invaluable lessons about business beyond college when they decide their work can be more than just an assignment completed for a grade in a class.<\/p>\n There are infinite challenges in the world, it takes someone with the entrepreneurial drive to have an idea for a remedy and the courage to try it out, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’re an eternal optimist while being a total pessimist at all times,\u201d Noble says. \u201cEverything’s always broken but you can always find a way to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n Working on the Edge of Technology <\/strong><\/p>\n Noble doesn\u2019t just teach; he does. He is currently working on a startup called GunClear. The company\u2019s encrypted technology uses applied mathematics to determine if someone is in possession of a firearm legally while protecting the privacy of the owner.<\/p>\n This tool will be useful for collectors and competitive shooters who transport their firearms frequently. It may also benefit resellers who need to ensure they are not selling stolen weapons.<\/p>\n Due to legal ramifications, people often do not report their guns as stolen. GunClear hopes to remedy this underreporting problem by privately confirming, with a simple yes or no, if a gun is owned legally.<\/p>\n This technology also has implications for criminal justice as 56% of crimes committed with a firearm involve a stolen firearm according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very different political problems nobody has had the courage to solve,\u201d Noble says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to use technology to do something that helps solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the greatest challenges Noble has encountered with this project stems from its novelty. Without a model to follow, this kind of cutting-edge technology is forging its own path.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to work with a development team at the bleeding edge of technology,\u201d Noble says. \u201cNobody\u2019s done this before.\u201d<\/p>\n Just the Beginning <\/strong><\/p>\n Noble is used to forging new paths. He was part of the inception of UConn\u2019s Werth Institute in 2017. The Werth Institute provides students with interdisciplinary opportunities to learn about and practice entrepreneurship and innovation.<\/p>\n For Noble, one of the key values of Werth is its commitment to all UConn students, not just those in the Schools of Business or Engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cWe painted a vision of entrepreneurship that brought it to students regardless of what their major is,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n While many students shy away from the idea of entrepreneurship as a career, the Werth Institute member programs provide transferable skills.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to not only encourage young students to try entrepreneurship, but also provide them with the skills to be more dynamic employees,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n The institute has the unique ability to see student startups at all stages. The faculty and advisors there can give precise advice about what students need to do to make their companies feasible.<\/p>\n Recent technological advances have helped to democratize entrepreneurship, which is a fundamental mission at Werth. Startups no longer need million-dollar computer setups as most people hold the power of a supercomputer in their hand.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents can build entire products in their dorm rooms by themselves,\u201d Noble says.<\/p>\n These kinds of advances and the ever-expanding digital marketplace have made entrepreneurship a more accepted career.<\/p>\n Another key element of entrepreneurship is leveraging one\u2019s network effectively. Noble is committed to building a strong UConn alumni network. By connecting with successful alumni, students see the possibilities they have as a UConn graduate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really strive to build engagement between students and alumni like what exists at Ivy League institutions that have worked on this for generations,\u201d Noble says. \u201cWe think that will be the key to taking UConn to a new level in the entrepreneurship space.\u201d<\/p>\n Noble says through initiatives at the Werth Institute and the University more generally, UConn will become a global leader in entrepreneurship and innovation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s no doubt in my mind we\u2019ll succeed, because I already see it coming,\u201d Noble says. \u201cWe very clearly see this is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Follow UConn Research on<\/em> Twitter<\/em><\/a> &<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UConn’s David Noble helps students find their way on the path to startup success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":168497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1731,2076,1862,2235,2225],"tags":[2249,80],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-168496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","category-research","category-busn","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-research","series-meet-the-researcher"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 10:41:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168496"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168556,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168496\/revisions\/168556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/168497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168496"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=168496"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=168496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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