Background & Story

The story behind the work

Immigrant → corp-dev → youngest Columbia EMBA → 3× founder at 27. Here's how Value Alpha and Sonnerie VC came to exist.

I grew up as an immigrant navigating institutions that weren't built for people like me — complex systems where the rules weren't posted anywhere obvious. That experience taught me to find the structural logic underneath the surface. It turns out that skill transfers directly to identifying broken markets worth fixing.

Before founding, I spent years inside corporate development — executing acquisitions from inside large organisations. Corp-dev gave me something rare: an inside view of how strategic acquirers actually price private companies, what drives deal conviction, and precisely where valuation methodology breaks down. I left convinced that the tooling for private markets valuation is fundamentally broken.

Value Alpha is the answer — not a fund, not an advisory firm, but infrastructure. A platform bringing institutional data and AI-powered fair-value methodology to an asset class that has operated on relationships and PDFs for decades.

Sonnerie VC is the complementary vehicle. Healthcare creates durable moats through operational complexity and persistent mispricing. My background as an operator lets me evaluate founder claims against the reality of actually running something difficult — which is a genuine edge in a category most generalist funds approach with pattern-matching rather than operational insight.

I completed my EMBA as the youngest graduate in Columbia Business School history — a credential that compressed years of professional judgment into months and positioned me to operate alongside executives twice my age. At Columbia I served as Vice President of both the Venture Capital Club and the Entrepreneurship Organization, and continue to mentor founders coming through the ecosystem.

I

Valuation Infrastructure

The institutional methodology and AI layer for private market valuation. The foundation of Value Alpha.

II

Healthcare Venture

Operator-led early-stage capital where complexity creates defensible moats. Sonnerie VC.

III

Corp-Dev & M&A

Inside-out perspective on how deals are priced and where traditional methodology fails.

IV

Builder Identity

Immigrant operator. Built without inherited networks. Structural disadvantage as analytical edge.

Track Record

2023–Now

Founder — Value Alpha

Private markets valuation infrastructure. Product, AI methodology, institutional sales.

2022–Now

Managing Partner — Sonnerie VC

Healthcare early-stage venture. Sourcing, diligence, portfolio support.

Founded

Founder — Felpel Ventures USA

Philanthropy for immigrant founders and underrepresented communities in the USA.

Columbia

Youngest EMBA Graduate · Columbia Business School

Youngest graduate in cohort history. VP, Venture Capital Club & Entrepreneurship Organization. Ongoing mentor.

Prior

Corporate Development & M&A

In-house corp-dev: deal origination, valuation, due diligence, post-merger integration.

Origin

Immigrant Operator

Built without inherited networks. Structural disadvantage turned analytical edge.