I do three things, and they reinforce each other.
Operator
Through Unsal Partners I fund and help run companies designed to be AI-only — structurally unable to function without AI and robotics in the critical path. The first live example is a global energy services group serving turbines and generators across fifty-plus countries; I sit on the board. It is on the path to AI-only, not there yet — field robotics is closest to deployment, the AI operating brain follows. The second, Ouroboros, is now in the open — an equity co-op going at the wearable health incumbents, recruiting a small core of AI-native builders against both equity and salary. More are in formation. The point of being an operator and not only an investor is simple: a company that is not actively managed by people who believe the thesis drifts back into an AI-first company within a quarter or two. The gravitational pull of the old way of working is that strong.
Writer
Since May 2024 I have been writing Add Shortcut, an essay newsletter on AI, economics, and the institutions we inherit. The pieces track a thesis: the binding constraint on modern economic life has been human cognition, that constraint is being lifted faster than most institutions can absorb, and the shape of the transition matters more than its eventuality. The frameworks I keep returning to — Bandwidth Economics, Scarcity Is Dead, The Dignity Paradox — are the argument behind everything Unsal Partners funds. Anchor essays here.
Before this
A three-decade working life across several kinds of institutions.
Tech investing. More than a hundred investments over twenty-eight years through Smyrna and earlier affiliations with USAID and the IFC.
International development. Roles at the World Bank and the United Nations. Work spanning more than thirty countries.
Executive management. Time at Microsoft during a turnaround and at Cisco before that.
Entrepreneurship. Founded five semiconductor and enterprise software companies in Silicon Valley, with successful exits.
Investment banking. Earlier career at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Education. Stanford MBA.
I also helped co-found a political party in Turkey that captured about five million votes within six months of launch. I list that not for the political content but because it was the most concentrated test I have had of building something from nothing under real pressure, and it informs how I think about starting companies.
How to reach me
The best way is LinkedIn. If you are operating or thinking about building an AI-only company in a sector where labor is the dominant operating cost, I am interested in talking to you.