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Every time he entered a market or convenience store, Barry Nalebuff, the Milton Steinbach Professor at the School of Management, found himself disappointed with the available beverage options: Drinks tended to be either extremely sweet, or not at all. A lover of tea, he thought "there should be a drink that tastes like tea rather than liquid candy, [a beverage] that suits adults, not 16-year-old boys with big bladders." Nalebuff discussed his dissatisfaction with one of his favorite students, Seth Goldman, SOM '95, who expressed a similar sentiment. After Goldman's graduation, the two went their separate ways-Seth off to a job in New York City and Barry to India to conduct a case-study of the tea industry. In India, Barry had discovered that American tea bottlers often used lower quality ingredients and manufacturing processes, resulting in a lackluster drink stateside. Nalebuff and Goldman reconnected and, following further discussion, Honest Tea, an organic drink prepared with real tea leaves, was born. Nalebuff recalled, "[It was] something I'd always wondered about, so I went for it." He taught by day, and worked evenings and weekends on his business venture. Back in partnership with Nalebuff, Seth quit his job and began experimenting with recipes in his kitchen. He took his prized concoction in a thermos to Whole Foods Markets, which immediately placed an order. Just over a decade later, Nalebuff stated proudly, "Most of the stores on campus carry it, and one percent of the proceeds go to Yale."

Nalebuff is not alone among Yale professors who defy the shut-in, bookworm-in-tweed stereotype of the tenured Ivy teacher and venture into the business world. Alexander Garvin, BR '62, ARCH '67, an adjunct professor in the School of Architecture, is a distinguished urban planner who has received numerous accolades. Garvin teaches the infamous "Study of the City" architecture course, which deals with the nitty-gritty of urbanization and development. "He gives one of the most realistic approaches I've seen at Yale," said Garrett Wong, TD '09, who took the class his sophomore year. Garvin believes that there are two kinds of professors: "practitioners, like [himself], and the [more] thoroughly academic." Alongside the three courses he teaches, Garvin said, "I have had an active and successful life outside of Yale." His firm, Alex Garvin & Associates, has been involved in many projects, perhaps most notably the "planning and redevelopment of about 700 acres" in DeKalb County, outside of Atlanta, GA. DeKalb needed someone to take measures toward improving pedestrian safety and revitalizing an area plagued by traffic. Garvin's plan was simple: line roadways with trees, bike lanes, and larger sidewalks to improve aesthetics, while simultaneously restructuring access lanes and widening congested streets.

However, his work is not limited to metropolitan Atlanta. A New Yorker to the core, Garvin speaks most proudly of his work in the city. Since 9/11, as Vice President of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, he has been closely involved with the design and reconstruction of the World Trade Center site. He has also accepted positions in five New York City administrations over a long and distinguished career. Most recently, Garvin was central to the pitch to bring the Olympics to New York City in 2012, specifically in the design of the Olympic Village.

Such a dual life is indeed easier among faculty members in the professional schools, which specifically maintain only a small core group of full-time academics, filling the rest of their teaching rosters with real-life professionals. Many School of Art professors are New York artists; almost the entire Drama School faculty consists of working actors, directors, lighting designers, etc. Yet some dedicated academics can, with luck, bring their findings to financial fruition. Scientists have the easiest time of this. Admittedly, basic research often leads to interesting and important discoveries, although many of these results will have no commercial viability for years. But every once in a while, something of real and immediate consumer value comes along.  Michael Snyder, the Lewis B. Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, has

experienced several such breakthroughs over the past 20 years, leading him to found several companies. The first was Protometrix, Inc., which, according to Snyder, "was developed on some things developed in [his] lab." It became clear that their product, which centers on microarray technology, an efficient and high-volume method of determining what a gene does, was financially feasible, so Snyder invested himself in his first "serious" start-up. The company was later bought out by Invitrogen and is still "doing very well." Snyder's latest start-up is a company called Affomix. Because the business is so new, Snyder declined to discuss the specific nature of the technology involved. He did say that the research behind the project deals with "developing antibodies, which are valuable reagents for all kinds of purposes, from diagnostics to therapeutics."

Although each individual startup has its peculiar successes and challenges, all scientists that do choose to start their own businesses invariably face one identical test: intellectual property bylaws. A University policy dictates that work and research done at Yale is university property. The policy is essentially identical at most research institutions, but the hurdle is no less real. At Yale, an individual looking to patent his or her research or begin a start-up company must gain the approval of Yale's Office of Cooperative Research (OCR). E. Jonathan "Jon" Soderstrom, Managing Director of the OCR, explains that bringing research or an item to market is "hard work, high risk, and not for the weak of heart." Typically, professors approach the office with a desire either to patent or to start a company. According to Soderstrom, the OCR sees "200 inventions a year, with 80 plus being licensed out, and only three to four resulting in start-up ventures." Over the years, around 40 start-ups blessed by the OCR have raised over $400 million.

Acquiring that blessing in years past could be maniacally difficult. When Michael Snyder launched his first business in the early 1990s, the Office of Cooperative Research was less than helpful. "Traditionally, Yale has not been very supportive," he said. In its earlier years, the Office struggled with conflicting attitudes over whether a university setting should be exclusively a place of scholarship or whether their professors should be encouraged to engage in entrepreneurial pursuits. Even with a great idea for a patent in hand, professors have often been turned down. Snyder remembers approaching the OCR in the '90s "with a really great invention that they did not act upon, which, as it turns out, could have been very valuable. However," he amended, "that was the old days." Soderstrom's appointment has been viewed as the ushering in of a new era. "He's very supportive, very talented," Snyder said.

With Jon Soderstrom in the driver's seat, the attitude has changed, and the OCR has become more aggressive. More professors look to patent and turn their inventions and research into companies. Most of the start-ups headquarter in and around New Haven. This clustering has been "very good for the local economy," Soderstrom said, since ventures such as Snyder's offer opportunities for more money to enter the market and for new jobs to be created. But the process can still be risky. "It has been easier more recently because we've been successful in the past," explains Snyder. "Once you've been successful, they are more likely to trust you and your ideas again." Professors in the sciences must always grapple with the unfortunate fact that they will not own the patent to their own research. For those looking to turn their work at Yale into a successful business venture, Soderstrom warns, "It takes a long time, it becomes hard to raise money, [and entrepreneurially-minded professors] must ask themselves, is it worth it?"  This no doubt goes for all professors looking to make it big in the business world. But some, undaunted, are out to show that those who teach can, in fact, do.