Man Who Once Color-Coded Spreadsheets Now Thinks He's Masayoshi Son
After years of formatting pitch decks, former banking Associate launches fund and declares himself a “founder DNA” investor.
JAKARTA — Former JPMorgan investment banking associate Kevin Sutanto has announced he is now a “vision-driven capital allocator and ecosystem catalyst,” after successfully convincing three angel investors and his cousin’s fintech boss to fund his $25 million micro fund targeting “deep logistics tech in under-digitalized supply chains.”
Sources confirm Kevin, now compares himself to Masayoshi Son at least twice per founder meeting and once before brushing his teeth.
“I’ve always had founder DNA,” Kevin said in an exclusive interview. “Sure, I used to spend 12 hours a day formatting slide 17 of pitch decks. But deep down? I was building muscle memory for cap table negotiations. It was all just reps.”
Colleagues from Kevin’s banking past remember things slightly differently.
“He used to cry in the printer room during year-end bonus week,” said a former JPM analyst who requested anonymity to avoid being invited to Kevin’s ‘LP happy hour’ events. “Now he’s out here acting like he invented SPVs. It’s wild.”
Kevin’s fund has already backed five startups with zero revenue and, in some cases, zero products. One pre-seed portfolio company is building a rambutan cold chain network for “optimized last-mile delivery.” Another startup describes itself as “the Stripe for highland root crops.”
When asked about the commercial viability of these businesses, Kevin replied, “We’re not investing in the now, we’re investing in the inevitable. If you can’t see this becoming a $100 billion market, that’s a you problem.”
Industry insiders note Kevin has also started refusing to use the word “investor” altogether, preferring terms like “founder whisperer,” and “market choreographer.”
“Last pitch I saw him in, he asked the founder to describe his ‘inner demon’ and how it relates to his churn rate,” said another VC who witnessed the interaction. “The guy went full therapy session.”
Since launching his fund, Kevin has fully rebranded his online presence. His LinkedIn now describes him as an “early believer in underdog economies,” while his Instagram features monochrome photos of urban coffee shops captioned with phrases like “risk is the poetry of capital.”
He has also reportedly started dressing exclusively in black turtlenecks and beige wide-leg trousers, even in Jakarta’s 34-degree humidity. According to sources, he insists it’s “a uniform that neutralizes ego.”
Kevin’s former manager at JPMorgan, now a Managing Director, commented, “Last time I bumped into him, he introduced himself as ‘a student of chaos seeking patterns.’ I just needed a market update.”
Despite the theatrics, Kevin insists his transition from spreadsheet soldier to startup savant was inevitable.
“People say I peaked as an Associate. But really, I was just warming up. Investment banking gave me the tools. Venture capital gave me the voice. Now I’m speaking the language of disruption, fluently.”
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