The Decision
In 2014, I left large corporate systems and joined a family office in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
I thought I was exiting the system. In hindsight, I entered another—smaller, with decisions made closer to power.
I was recruited as employee number 65 to build its Strategic Advisory Office, working across a global portfolio of family-owned businesses.
It was a small organization operating as one of the territory’s leading economic development companies. Decisions surfaced faster. When something broke, there was nowhere to hide.
In 2017, two Category 5 hurricanes hit the islands.
Power failed. Supply chains snapped. My employer reorganized. I was out.
In the aftermath, I started a consulting practice that built a centralized project management office to coordinate the government’s $8B recovery effort.
I stopped accepting systems that only worked when nothing went wrong.
After exiting that startup, I returned to New York at the end of 2019—right before everything changed again.
The pandemic hit. Movement stopped.
No travel. No urgency. No cover. Patterns collapsed into a single view.
In 2020, the world didn’t change my mind. It removed the excuses.
Continuing to invest energy in systems I didn’t believe in became indefensible. So I chose to build.
—
These are my personal notes.
— Alain
If you’re a:
Founder trying to build beyond your current environment
Investor looking for structured impact opportunities
Ecosystem leader building across regions
Then you already see the gap.
That’s the work we’re solving through Venture Philanthropy Blueprint (VPB).
Where founders, operators, and investors build together
If you’re not ready yet, stay close to the thinking.
Subscribe and follow the work as it unfolds.