BVG Board of Advisors: Introduction
Estimated reading time 7 minutes
Hello again! How is everyone? It’s been a while since I got time to get my thoughts together for a post. I wanted to take this moment and briefly introduce the current members of the BVG Board of Advisors. They are phenomenal people, and they each add so much value to the Blackstone Valley Group that I thought it prudent to share a little biographical information about them as well as my own personal thoughts and observations about what each of them brings to the table here at BVG.
Oh… and just a small disclaimer… I will introduce them in alphabetic order so as not to show favoritism… well, unless you count favoritism towards alphabetizing. Haha!
First, allow me to introduce Mr. John Bosley. John co-founded Wind River Capital http://wrcpartners.com/ in 1986 and has been instrumental in influencing a lot of companies over a 30-year tenure in various management and board roles including his tenures at GoldK and Bonaire.
I met John during our engagements at Bonaire a few years ago and we slowly built a rapport and understanding which extended beyond the boundaries of working relationship.
As I started my investor meetings and getting a construct of how BVG would shape up to be, I turned to John on his thoughts. A veteran titan of the AngelInvesting/VC world, he knew the highs and the pitfalls of this game. He has played an active role in encouraging and mentoring my actions during my first shaky steps in the Angel Investing world – helping with initial contracts, term sheets, due diligence, so on. He has been generous with introductions, references and sharing his experiences of both the good and, as he calls it, the “not-so good.” For most of the deals coming in to BVG, he is often my go-to Advisor (him being in Boston helps, too) to get a perspective about the opportunity.
John was gracious in agreeing to be the first on the BVG Board of Advisors, an honor and a validation for the thought behind starting BVG.
John is an avid cyclist and every now and then he disappears to take the challenge of the trail he hasn’t conquered!
To read more about John please go to http://www.blackstonevalleygroup.com/about-us/ or visit his profile @ http://wrcpartners.com/people.html
Next on the list is Dr. Deepak Kotak… and speaking of the alphabet, Dr. Kotak or “Dee” (as he likes his friends to call him) has almost every letter following his name: MA(Oxon), MBBS, FRCA, MRCP, LLM.
Dee didn’t rest on these accolades and apart from the medical field (Consulting Physician in London Teaching Hospitals) he also practiced as an attorney for four years in civil law. He is currently an investment manager for a small private equity fund in the US where he concentrates on healthcare. Deepak is also the CMO officer of a Texas-based medical device company moving into the commercialization stage, advisor to a US bio-tech, investor and a guest analyst for PropThink.
Dee, I tried my best to summarize the illustrious career; if I missed anything, apologies!
I met Dee many moons ago on a Yahoo! Board/Group of a bio-tech company where we both agreed on the probable direction of the company’s stock price, due to different reasons – his being driven from the knowledge of the drugs/pharma industry and mine from a technical chart reading and investing background – that interaction led to e-mail exchanges, invitation to each other’s private investing networks and lot of late-night/early-morning texts, phone calls, face-time/Skype that culminated in a very close friendship and working engagements.
As we worked together on deals and investments Dee’s ability to look at the Forest and the trees at the same time and show me a different perspective left a lasting impression. As BVG started taking shape Dee was more excited and running ahead than me, and in all honesty trying to catch up with him is what got BVG ready for a launch under 4 months! When I asked him about joining BVG Board of Advisors, he retorted good naturedly, “What took you so long?”
Dee is one of the smartest minds I have met, and yet he carries this brilliance with a humble grace and ready-to-help attitude to anyone who engages with him.
Dee is an avid tennis player and an accomplished chef often experimenting very successfully with blending of cuisines!
To read more about Dee please go to http://www.blackstonevalleygroup.com/about-us/
And finally, meet Deepak Shenoy. Deepak is a serial entrepreneur in the technology and financial market spaces.
Deepak writes and manages CapitalMind.in, http://capitalmind.in/ and you can follow him at Twitter: @deepakshenoy where his uniqueness lies in simplifying the concepts of markets and economics while explaining financial news and opinion. He has over 10,000 + followers on Twitter, and over 5K people all over the world read his views daily on email. You will find Deepak’s articles in many online and print publications including Yahoo, Jet Lite, Business Standard and Pragati.
He also does an awesome job at breaking down the enormously complicated Annual Indian budget in layman terms by way of his e-book “Budgetnomics.” I already have my next year orders with him, hoping he does a paper edition this time around, so that a lot more folks can read and benefit from there.
I stumbled along Deepak’s blog a few years ago and was instantly attracted as a reader and became a fan soon after. A couple of years ago, I responded to a post Deepak had made on Capital Mind (Reading blogs in the BIM markets and asking the bloggers elementary questions has been a valuable experience and a full-time hobby; not sure if the bloggers who I pepper with my questions share the same enthusiasm) and, lo and behold, he came back with a response. We exchanged a few notes and then the conversations dried up. The cycle repeated over a few times. As I started BVG, I looped in Deepak to get his insights on the Indian investment opportunities and he promised all help needed to get BVG off the ground from deal pipelines to opportunity assessments.
I met Deepak in person on my first BVG sortee to Bengaluru, India, over hot snacks with tea/coffee one evening. We had one hour allocated for our meeting. We quickly forgot the time as idea and opportunity discussions started getting a rhythm of their own, and by the time we looked up it was past dinnertime.
I floated the idea to Deepak about joining the BVG Advisor Board the next day. After some initial reluctance (due to time commitments) and me twisting his arm, Deepak finally agreed to join the Board of Advisors @ BVG.
During cricket season weekends Deepak, a keen cricket enthusiast, can be found flopped on the sofa taking in every minute of the game and tweeting, responding to comments, blogging, answering his cell and tweeting in that order J!
To read more about Deepak please go to http://www.blackstonevalleygroup.com/about-us/ or visit his blog @ http://capitalmind.in/ or his website http://www.marketvision.in
It is a privilege to know these outstanding gentlemen and count them as close friends and working partners. They have enriched my life in many ways. Thank You, John, Dee and Deepak !
