Kunal Chopra

I%27ve been CEO three times under three kinds of owners: a Nasdaq-listed company, a PE-backed platform, and a venture-backed AI company I founded. Each time I rebuilt the business around a technology shift its industry hadn%27t absorbed yet. At Kaspien the stock went from $2 to $52. At Beckett the valuation multiple went from about 10x to 25x EBITDA. Every board is now asking its CEO what AI means for the company. I%27ve been the CEO answering that question, so I know which answers hold up and where a board should push.%22

What makes me useful on a board

- I%27ve sat in the chair the board oversees, under every ownership model. Public, PE and venture boards want different things on different clocks, and I%27ve reported to all three.
- I know public-company mechanics from the CEO side. As CEO of Trans World Entertainment (Nasdaq), I worked the proxy, Nasdaq compliance and the audit committee.
- Capital and M&A: more than $270M raised across debt and equity, and five acquisitions.
- I chair a board today. At Aventis Alpha Care I built a six-member board that includes the former CFO of AT&T and the former CEO of Microsoft China. I%27m also a board member and investor at CareTech.
- My view of AI comes from operating it. Certivo is AI-native, so I deal every week with what AI costs, what breaks and what it changes in the org chart.
- I%27ve run at scale: a $500M P&L at Microsoft and a $400M business at Amazon.
- On the advisory side, I%27ve been a technology and innovation advisor to a member of the U.S. House and a Techstars mentor.
- I know the difference between asking a CEO a hard question and doing the CEO%27s job.

Companies that would get the most from me

- Public micro- and small-caps. Small boards often have no one who has run a listed company. I have, and I did it as a turnaround.
- PE-backed companies whose value-creation plan runs through technology. Recurring revenue, software and data are what moved Beckett%27s multiple.
- Software companies that need to become AI companies. Adding AI features to a SaaS product and rebuilding the company around AI are different decisions. Certivo was built the second way.
- Supply-chain, manufacturing and compliance-heavy businesses. AI changes their operating model the most, and it%27s where Certivo sells and where I write.

The common thread is a company facing a technology shift its industry hasn%27t absorbed, with a board that wants someone who has done that rebuild from the CEO seat.

A few choices worth knowing. I led with the three ownership models because public-company CEO experience is the scarcest thing you bring to a board. I kept out Certivo revenue targets and anything that reads as CEO-search framing, since that competes with board positioning. The pitch never implies a public directorship, so if someone asks whether you%27ve served on a public board, the clean answer is %22as the CEO reporting to one, and as chair of a private board.