Earning an MBA as a Successful Start-Up Founder
Stephen Yu's TMMBA degree was a vital bridge to his next endeavor
An MBA is an excellent training ground for those aspiring to one day lead a successful technology company. Stephen Yu (MBA 2018) took a different trajectory. He used the University of Washington Foster School of Business Technology Management MBA (TMMBA) program as a bridge between founding two successful tech companies. He enrolled in the program already a burgeoning entrepreneur and used the skills he gained in the program to launch his second start-up.
“There are many reasons to go back to school,” he says. “I’d had some success, but I wanted to crystallize some of the concepts I had seen put into practice in my career to date.”
Yu co-founded Quosal over a decade before starting at Foster. The company’s origins stemmed from Yu and his partner identifying a need to help businesses provide more compelling sales quotes to potential clients, particularly managed service providers (MSPs). The company started with four employees and grew to over 100, powering business development activities for computer hardware distributors nationwide. Quosal was acquired by ConnectWise in 2011, with Yu staying on as the Chief Technology Officer.
Enrolling in the Foster Technology Management MBA Program
While serving as a senior executive at ConnectWise, Yu enrolled in Foster’s Technology Management MBA program. It is custom-designed for working professionals in the technology industry, providing management training, strategy development, and leadership skills.
Yu entered the program with an open and collaborative attitude. He was there to learn—and if his experience could benefit his fellow students, all the better.
“Learning is a lifelong endeavor,” he says. “We have the capacity to learn new things at every stage of life.”
Foster Professor David Tan provides a shift in perspective
As a result, Yu found it a smooth transition from the boardroom to the classroom. He found particular value in Professor David Tan’s strategy class.
“David Tan’s strategy class gave me a completely new perspective,” Yu says. “I had always approached business with a mindset of solving problems, scaling, and eventually exiting. But his class made me realize that growth doesn’t always mean expanding broadly—it can mean finding an underserved niche. Established companies often have bloated feature sets that don’t fully meet the needs of all their customers, leaving gaps in the market. His insights helped me see that true opportunity lies in identifying and serving those overlooked customers.”
Building lifelong connections in Technology Management
Yu is quick to point out that while the program was rigorous, he also enjoyed his time at Foster, particularly the friendships he forged with his classmates.
“The teamwork in the program was invaluable,” he says. “All our big projects, especially in the entrepreneurial classes, were team-based, and that created a strong sense of camaraderie. We spent late nights working through challenges, building out projects, and really going through it together. Those experiences forged lasting connections—I still keep in touch with many of my teammates today. The relationships we built weren’t just for the classroom; they became a lasting part of my professional and personal network.”
A career spanning industries and coasts
Yu’s studies were informed by a career that had already seen him travel across the country and pivot to a new industry.
He earned his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas and began his career in New York in the Goldman Sachs IT department. In keeping with his modesty, he didn’t fully appreciate the firm’s prestige until the branded swag he received from the company attracted attention at his gym.
But Yu says being in New York was not conducive to his love of the outdoors, and he knew the city wasn’t where he wanted to raise a family. “I wanted a change of scenery,” he says. “Seattle has the mountains and the water, the great hiking. And I got a job offer from a startup company working on a point-of-sale system.”
That company was Apropos, where he worked as a senior developer. As he gained experience, Yu identified the opportunity to improve the hardware sales proposal process. With an entrepreneurial spirit and technical skills, he took the leap and founded Quosal, the first successful start-up of his career.
Technology Management MBA skillset lends itself to startup life
Now, bolstered by the skills he gained in Foster’s Technology Management MBA program, Yu has founded his second successful firm. He is the CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Catalog, a growing company that enables MSPs to provide their customers with customized storefronts with real-time inventory data.
Yu credits Professor Tan’s lessons with helping guide his approach at Adaptive Catalog. While in the program, he didn’t yet have the concept for his new venture, but he knew he wanted to return to the startup world and launch a company that would be nimbler than its larger competitors.
Adaptive Catalog is a one-stop solution for resellers, enabling them to offer a curated selection of hardware, software, and services through a seamless, customer-facing portal. Yu explains that for his customers, winning a contract to supply IT equipment is just the beginning—actually fulfilling that order is the greatest challenge. Businesses have to manually check distributor inventories, create quotes, and juggle multiple suppliers.
Beyond streamlining operations for resellers, Adaptive Catalog also provides value to distributors and manufacturers.
“We’re not just a sourcing company—we’re a data company,” he says. “By aggregating demand from over a thousand resellers, we secure better pricing and availability for smaller players. At the same time, distributors benefit from better demand forecasting and targeted advertising opportunities.”
This dual-sided marketplace enables Adaptive Catalog to monetize both sides while creating efficiency and cost savings.
“We take a small cut from each transaction, but we’re adding value on both ends. Resellers get faster, smarter procurement, and suppliers gain better visibility and sales. It’s a true win-win.”
Advice for future MBA students
Despite the demands of his career, Yu has also returned to the Technology Management MBA program to serve as a judge for the program’s entrepreneurial class competitions.
Yu delivered the commencement address for the work-professional MBA programs in 2018 and shares this advice with today’s MBA students:
“Take advantage of your time in school—it’s a safe place to experiment, to think through ideas, and to fail without real consequences. Use that freedom to figure out what excites you and start working toward it now, even before you graduate.”
Yu’s advice goes beyond the typical encouragement to take risks. He challenges students to recognize an often-overlooked obstacle: the fear of success.
“People always talk about the fear of failure, but I think what holds most people back is actually the fear of success. Success brings accountability—to employees, to customers, to stakeholders. It changes your life and adds pressures you might not be ready for. That’s what stops many people from trying.”
But if you push past that hesitation? “Well, life gets really fun, really fast!”
