From Cisco to consulting
George's résumé reads like a map of modern enterprise tech. Almost 17 years at Cisco, followed by Juniper Networks, and then Arista, driving deals and new markets that ran into the billions. By 62, something had shifted. "I think I had a little bit of burnout," he admits. He relocated to Florida to be closer to his daughter, already turning consulting over in his mind, when a former Juniper colleague pointed him toward a new venture. Not long after, Connectd came calling. "The story you guys were presenting over the competition was a little better," he says, matter-of-fact about the decision.
He didn't see it as a step down from corporate life, but as the start of a fractional career. "I looked at it as an investment in myself," he explains, "learning new structures, what to look out for, better preparation for the consulting roles I was introducing myself for." Two years on, the investment has clearly paid off.
The shape of the work now
Ask George what a typical week looks like and the contrast with his old career becomes obvious. "Before, you have your set goals and objectives, and you're leading your team for that," he says. "Now you're more spread out. You're helping multiple founders and smaller organizations solve different challenges at different stages of their growth." It's the classic shape of a portfolio career: many clients, no single employer.
When he spoke with the Connectd team, he'd just finished advising a startup on go-to-market strategy, his first pro bono engagement through the network. Another conversation that week was about manufacturing and sourcing, a problem entirely outside his sales background but well within his experience of scaling businesses generally.
A lot of what he offers, he says, isn't really advice at all. It's structure and governance, the kind a board advisor brings to a business that's never had one. "It's almost like putting some governance into play," he says, describing how he helps young executives get clear on their vision, their mission, their strategy. "Founders don't know what they don't know. So how do they find individuals they can trust, with the experience, to assist in these areas?"
The Tavo Sleep turnaround
If there's one story that captures what George actually does, it's Tavo Sleep. The sleep-tech company came to him already doing well, north of a million and a half a year in sales, but with a vulnerability hiding in plain sight. "They had a single-source vendor for their device," he explains. "They didn't have contracts in place from a volume perspective, nor for how many years they'd be acquiring it."
His advice was sequenced and direct: raise capital first, then hire fractional hardware engineers to properly develop the product, then use the Connectd network to find someone with genuine manufacturing experience who could help them diversify their supply. "So they're not handcuffed," he says. "Now they're controlling their own destiny." They followed the plan exactly.
A favor with no strings attached
Not every story has a clean before-and-after, but the ones that don't are often the most telling. George describes a conversation with a fellow Connectd advisor, working with a Florida cybersecurity firm about to sign a major deal with a company in the UK. Neither of them was sure how to structure the cross-border side of it.
George had the answer in his back pocket. Years of business travel to the UK had left him with contacts most people in Florida simply wouldn't have. He put the them in touch with a well-connected cybersecurity contact whose team consults in the UK, without a second thought about what he'd get out of it himself.
That's rather the point, he suggests. "It's the network of people that you meet," he says. "Not only are you helping other Connectd advisors, you're helping companies I wouldn't even have known about." An introduction made for someone else's client, he adds, can often see new opportunities find their way back to him too.
Building trust, one coffee at a time
George is quick to credit Connectd's own outreach for bringing people to the platform. But ask him how the Florida community actually took shape, and the story turns local. He was one of the original "core four," alongside Anne Bruce, Diane Altwies and John Schipp, the first advisors in the state to get active within local ecosystems, advocating for the Connectd network. "We started brainstorming about going to local tech events and introducing ourselves in a way that tied back to the Connectd platform," he says.
What followed was a rhythm rather than a campaign: bi-monthly events, bi-weekly calls open to anyone in Florida, coffee with startup founders, regular visits to incubators. They started turning up at university pitch days too, where student companies were landing million-dollar government grants and immediately needing the kind of advisory structure George had spent three decades building for much bigger organizations. "That's how we've helped grow Connectd locally," he says simply.
What he'd tell himself at 50
George circles back to his age with the same wry smile he opened with, but the thought behind it is sincere. "If there was a program similar to this when I was 50, I would've had the time to develop intellectually through the training, develop my presence," he says. "It would have set me up at an earlier place in my life where I could have branched off and started something more significant on my own."
His advice to anyone weighing up the same move is characteristically direct. "My question always to people is, what do you want to get out of this?" he says. "Because the investment you put in is what you're going to get out." But the real obstacle for most people isn't the cost. "What's the biggest fear? It's change."
"George's career has been defined by embracing change. But, he acknowledges, success requires the right conditions: 'Ecosystems matter, connections matter, having a trusted environment matters,' he says. 'That's pretty much it.'"
If, like George, you want to build a rewarding advisory career, join Connectd today.
