Dr. Jeff Chang (FEMBA ’12) is the CTO and co-founder of Doblet. Using a patent-pending technology, Doblet is the world’s first fully app-driven portable battery network. Chang is the youngest radiologist in the U.S.; he earned his M.D. from NYU at age 20 and, aside from his MBA, also studied artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. As Chang puts it, he’s “just a guy looking to change our world for the better.”
Interview by Betsey Blakely (’17)
Q: Tell us about your business and the inspiration behind it.
Doblet solves the battery problem.
We’re building a network of smart portable batteries so you can charge your phone anywhere. We put our batteries in bars, restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, hotels, libraries, museums, co-working spaces and all sorts of other venues — now expanding into over 1,000 venues in the Bay Area. When you run low on charge, just pick up a Doblet, charge your phone, then drop the Doblet back off.
Doktor Gurson, my co-founder, was at a bar in San Francisco charging his phone with an external battery. The guy next to him asks, “Mind if I borrow that battery after you’re done? I’ll buy you a beer!” The guy on the other side says, “I’ll buy a beer for both of you, if you can charge my phone, too.”
Doktor wondered why charging wasn’t just readily available, right where and when you needed it. And Doblet was born.
Q: What resources at Anderson and the Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation have been most beneficial to you and why?
The biggest benefits of Anderson are in their sheer variety. Unlike almost any other kind of postgraduate program, B-school lets you explore as many fields and industries as you wish and learn from classmates with a vast range of backgrounds. Realize how rare this melting pot is, and be intentional in taking full advantage.
For me, the Price Center was key in finding internships in VC and PE. Elaine Hagan (’91), Angela Klein and the wonderful people at the Price Center were always helpful in exploring new startup ideas, and the first people we’d talk with when looking to create new Entrepreneur Association programs and student startup initiatives.
It was at Anderson that I came across the first few dozen business plans I’d ever seen. Of course, the business plan is a relic of a forgotten past in both Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach, but for certain kinds of businesses, it helps founders really think through their ideas, revenue models and product-market fit before approaching investors.