From Canadian Restaurateur to Deep-Tech Chief of Staff in Paris: Zach Cho’s Global MBA Journey

Weeks before arriving at EDHEC, Zach Cho had just closed a major chapter of his professional life.

At 25, he co-founded a restaurant group in Canada. Over the next six years, he helped build the business from the ground up, leading teams, managing operations, negotiating with suppliers, developing a brand and making the daily decisions that keep a hospitality business alive.

Then came the sale of his stake, a move that gave him both closure and momentum. A few weeks later, he arrived in Nice to begin the EDHEC Global MBA.

“I knew I wanted to take the next step in my career, but I also knew that I needed a broader platform,” Zach says. “I had built and operated a company, but most of my experience came from one specific industry and one geographic market. The Global MBA was a way to expand both.”

That decision would eventually take him from hospitality entrepreneurship in Canada to a Chief of Staff role at NcodiN, a Paris-based deep-tech startup pioneering nanolaser-enabled photonic interconnects for AI computing.

The move may seem surprising at first glance. Zach arrived at EDHEC with no technical background. What he did bring was a founder’s operating discipline, a tolerance for ambiguity and a clear understanding of how businesses actually get built.

Building a business under pressure

Hospitality gave Zach an education in immediacy. In a restaurant, problems rarely wait for a carefully arranged meeting with a neat agenda and mineral water. They arrive in real time, often during service, and usually with customers watching.

“Co-founding and running a restaurant group taught me that building a business is ultimately about execution, resilience and people,” Zach says. “In hospitality, everything is immediate. If something goes wrong, you cannot hide behind a long strategy cycle. The customer is in front of you, the team needs direction, and the business still has to operate.”

That environment shaped his leadership style. Over six years, he learned to hire and train teams, manage cash flow, build systems, open locations and make operational decisions with imperfect information.

“The most important lesson was that a business is only as strong as its people and its operating rhythm,” he says. “If the team understands the mission, the standards and the expectations, they can move quickly and independently.”

For Zach, the EDHEC Global MBA offered a chance to convert that founder experience into a broader strategic profile. He wanted to remain close to building businesses, solving problems and working with ambitious teams, but in a larger and more international context.

“I came to EDHEC wanting to sharpen my strategic thinking, build a more international network and reposition myself for a career in Europe,” he says. “I was also looking for the language, frameworks and credibility to move beyond founder-led operations into more strategic roles.”

Using the Global MBA to frame a career transition

The EDHEC Global MBA is designed for professionals looking to accelerate, redirect or internationalise their careers within a 10-month full-time format. For Zach, that intensity mattered. He had just exited his company and wanted a programme that could help him move quickly into the next phase.

During the MBA, he began to see his previous experience differently. The move from restaurants to deep tech appeared, on paper, to be a sharp pivot. Through the programme, Zach learned to identify the transferable value beneath the industry label.

"The Global MBA helped me see that my experience was more transferable than I'd realised," he says. "Moving from hospitality to deep tech sounds like a leap at first. But when I looked closer, the core skills carried over directly: building structure, managing ambiguity, aligning people, improving processes, and helping leadership teams execute.

The programme helped him reposition his story. He was not simply someone from hospitality. He was a founder and operator who had built teams, managed complexity and made decisions in a fast-moving environment.

This distinction became central to his post-MBA transition. Prospective students often wonder whether they need a linear background to enter technology, consulting, finance or another new sector after an MBA. Zach’s experience points to a different question: can you explain how your experience creates value in a new context?

Finding confidence in an international MBA cohort

For Zach, the international cohort played a significant role in that shift. EDHEC Global MBA participants come from different countries, sectors and functions, creating a learning environment where professional assumptions are tested daily.

“The cohort itself was incredibly valuable because everyone came from different countries, industries and professional cultures,” he says. “That kind of environment forces you to become more adaptable. You learn how to communicate across cultures, challenge your assumptions and work with people who approach problems differently.”

The personalised curriculum and project work also helped him build confidence outside his original industry. Through courses, group projects and leadership development, Zach tested his ability to apply business frameworks in unfamiliar contexts.

“The personalised curriculum and project work helped me build confidence outside of my original industry,” he says. “I was able to test myself in new contexts, apply business frameworks to unfamiliar sectors and better understand where my strengths could create value.”

That confidence became especially important as he explored opportunities in Europe. Moving country, sector and function at the same time requires more than ambition. It requires a coherent narrative, credible proof points and the ability to operate across cultures.

For Zach, EDHEC provided the setting to practise all three.

Moving into deep tech without a technical background

After graduating from the EDHEC Global MBA in 2024, Zach joined NcodiN as Chief of Staff. The company has since entered a significant growth phase, announcing a €16 million seed funding round in late 2025 and a research partnership with CEA-Leti in 2026.

In a company working on highly technical innovation, Zach’s role is not to replace scientific expertise. It is to help the organisation scale.

“I learned to focus less on what I did not know and more on where I could create immediate value,” he says. “In a deep tech company, the science and engineering are obviously critical, but scaling a company requires much more than technology alone. It requires structure, communication, prioritisation, investor readiness, hiring, internal operations and the ability to turn ambition into execution.”

His founder background became a strength precisely because early-stage companies often need people who can build while moving. In restaurants, he had created systems where none existed. At NcodiN, that same instinct helps him connect strategy and execution.

“At NcodiN, I did not try to pretend to be a technical expert,” Zach says. “Instead, I focused on asking the right questions, translating complex topics into business language and helping the company move faster operationally.”

As Chief of Staff, his work involves aligning teams, clarifying priorities, preparing investor materials, improving internal processes and supporting decision-making across functions.

“My founder experience taught me ownership,” he says. “The MBA helped me add structure to that ownership.”

What prospective MBA candidates can learn from Zach’s journey

Zach’s path offers a useful lesson for prospective MBA candidates with strong business experience and a non-linear ambition. The entry point into a new sector is not always technical expertise, a familiar job title or a perfectly polished plan. Sometimes it is the ability to show how your existing experience solves the problems a company is facing now.

For candidates considering an MBA to move into Europe, into technology or into a new strategic role, Zach’s advice is direct.

“Do not underestimate the value of your existing experience,” he says. “You do not need to have a perfectly linear background to move into tech or build a career in Europe. In fact, many companies need people who can bring a different perspective, especially if they have experience building, leading and solving practical business problems.”

The key, he adds, is translation. Hospitality became operations, leadership, customer experience, team building, financial discipline and decision-making under pressure. EDHEC helped him give that experience a wider strategic and international frame.

“The MBA can be a powerful bridge, but it is not a magic reset button,” Zach says. “You still need to be proactive, curious and willing to put yourself in unfamiliar situations.”

For Zach, that bridge led from Canada to France, from hospitality to deep tech and from founder-led operations to a Chief of Staff role in a company scaling advanced technology for AI infrastructure.

His story shows a career transition built through experience, reflection and momentum. A practical founder’s education, sharpened through a Global MBA, then applied in a sector where execution matters as much as invention.