Alok Deshpande

Mar 29

Alok Deshpande

Venture Partner

Alok is a Venture Partner at PJC and the Co-Founder and CEO of SmartPath, a financial wellness company. He started SmartPath in 2010 to provide unbiased financial guidance to middle class families. Today, SmartPath reaches tens of thousands of individuals every year through financial education and coaching programs at leading companies including Home Depot, CenturyLink, Leidos, Emory Healthcare and more.

Alok is also the author of the highly rated personal finance guidebook Fuel: The Most Important Number in Your Financial Life. He regularly appears as a financial expert and guest contributor in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, NBC, TechCrunch and more.

“It’s been a dream come true to play a small part of moving people from chaos to confidence with their finances.”

Prior to launching SmartPath, Alok was a Manager at Bain & Company where he served as an advisor to Fortune 500 financial service and technology companies. He received a BBA with high distinction from Emory’s Goizueta Business School, an MBA from Harvard Business School and is an alumnus of the prestigious Y-Combinator startup accelerator.

Alok is a member of Lead Atlanta and stays active in his local community through volunteering and nonprofit Board positions. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife, Nina and son, Deven.

Ask me about: Personal Finance and the Atlanta Falcons

Why I love VC: They're willing to dream with crazy founders (of which I'm one) :)

Favorite place in Boston: It's actually eating fresh lobster from hole in the wall places in Gloucester, MA

Life philosophy: Continue to Grow