Vas D.

Vas Daskalakis

5.0

(5)

Entrepreneurial Outside-the-Box Career Coach to Design a Career You Love

New York University Logo

Studied at New York University

MFS Trade School Logo

Works at MFS Trade School

Successful clients at

Not currently taking new clients

Vas’s Career Coaching Qualifications

Coaches professionally

Experience level: Executive

20+ people coached for Career Coaching

My coaching is shaped by my own unique experience taking non-traditional career paths to build my own dream career: A Successful Entrepreneur Living Abroad doing Meaningful Work. I'm passionate about helping you find the shortest path to getting to your goals. I also spend significantly more time on Goal Discovery and exploration than more traditional career coaches so that we can chart a path that feels aligned — whether that means startup life, social impact, great work-life balance, or something unconventional entirely. I know when to use conventional paths to get you closer to your dream job, and I know when to see through myths and take alternative paths instead (like the myth that consulting prepares you for entrepreneurship). If you are interested in building your own unique dream job, reducing time to achieve your goal, or would be curious to visualize what entrepreneurship could look like for you, then I'd be a great fit. More about my career path: I started by getting a prestigious internship & full-time job with JPM's Leveraged Finance NYC office (which was difficult from a non-core, non-ivy league school). After working 80 hour weeks, I left at the 1-year mark to begin specializing my finance expertise to social impact finance, one of my growing passion areas. I joined a boutique investment advisory firm in Kenya, where I advised startups and SME's in emerging markets capital raise & scale. After using that to build a 360-degree view of the startup ecosystem (dev-fin orgs, VC's, PE, startups, etc) I was able to choose to dive into startup growth. I joined EDIU, a German ed-tech app, as their Growth Manager and built out the company at the early stages, before starting my own social impact startup from scratch to $1M in revenue, $2M fundraised, and to >150 employees before it was strategically acquired in 2023. Let’s design a career that works for you, not just your résumé.

Vas can help with:

AI Automation

AI Fundamentals

AI Outreach

AI-Powered Job Search

Career Planning

Cover Letters

Freelancing

General Exploration

Interview Prep

Job Search Strategies

Leadership

Networking Strategy

Personal Branding

Professional Networking

Resume Review

Salary Negotiation

Skill Building

Vas also coaches for Life Coaching and Startup Founders. View all.

About Vas

I built and scaled my own startup from scratch to acquisition—raising $2M+, growing teams to 150+, and >$1M in Revenue. My path zig-zagged from 80-hour weeks on Wall Street to raising capital for Nairobi startups; From scaling a social ed-tech startup, to doubling a U.S. Trade School’s revenues. Along the way, I've lived 6 years in Kenya, taken sabbaticals to digital nomad, disproven conventional career & lifestyle myths, and developed very unique perspectives on everything from burnout to stress management to how a fulfilling life, career, business can look different for everyone. My goal is to help you uncover the one that is best for you, even if it may not be clear yet. My passions include adventure travel, fun neurodivergent communities, and throwing away conventional startup advice to help entrepreneurs relax & build on their own terms.

Why do I coach?

As a second-generation Greek immigrant, I started my career with no networks, advantages, or mentors. It took me almost a decade to build everything I needed to achieve my dream life, and I built it myself. Thus, I'm passionate about advising others and sharing what I've learned from my unique life path.

Work Experience

MFS Trade School Logo

President and COO

MFS Trade School

May 2023 - Present

Transformed a Technical Trade School by operationalizing new online infrastructure, launching new products, building sales & marketing teams from scratch, and scaling new lead funnels. After 1 year efforts have already doubled team size and grown revenues. MFS Trade School empowers workers to become entrepreneurs through vocational training, trade certifications, and business support for fire prevention services.

Africa AI Logo

Founder/CEO

Africa AI

January 2020 - April 2023

Founded and grew an Impact Outsourcing Firm in East Africa from scratch to 228 employees and 700 freelancers, surpassing $1M in annual revenue with $2M in funds raised. Africa.ai offers dedicated, managed data labeling teams to U.S. startups & SME's ranging from hedge funds to machine learning startups. With a strong impact mission, africa.ai has the best cost-to-quality footprint in the market thanks to 100% team retention.

EIDU Logo

Growth manager

EIDU

November 2018 - February 2020

EIDU is an ECD learning application created to succeed in Kenya's toughest market conditions: Informal settlement schools. Responsibilities included: • Refining the Company’s business model in Kenya to focus on operational excellence (i.e. built out sales team, developed the incident manager role, managed field team & operations) • Finance & capital raise support, included building internal/external financial model, theory of change, website & business plan from scratch, and execution of corporate video • Process development and standardization related to producing data-driven insights, KPI tracking, field operations, bug reporting, and data collection

I-Dev International Logo

Investment Associate

I-Dev International

June 2017 - November 2018

Consulting, capital raise support & sell-side investment advisory (Series A to C) for high growth startups, SMEs, and corporates across emerging markets with a focus on East Africa. Responsibilities included: • Independently created and executed the ecosystem-building, CAPEX conference for young finance professionals, sold a $16,000 budget to external parties, and achieved >200 people in attendance • Created content, taught & led iHub Digital Traction Camp accelerator which teaches Investor Readiness, Modeling, & Growth Strategy to 30 Pan-African startups • Buy-side advisory for emerging market funds including pipeline mapping, fund structuring, fund management and in-depth field visits to conduct portfolio company due diligence

J.P. Morgan Logo

Finance Analyst

J.P. Morgan

May 2016 - April 2017

Leveraged Finance and Diversified Industries Coverage for clients with greater than $500 million in annual revenues. Responsibilities included: • Drive forward deal execution as the debt specialist by coordinating the due diligence process, drafting and finalizing offering materials and reviewing credit documentation at every stage of the transaction 
 • Develop merger models for credit analysis and underwriting approval, with a focus on leverage levels and capital structure recommendations • Completed 20+ pitches and deal executions across industry verticals with an emphasis on technology, healthcare and industrials with experience in high yield and high-grade bonds, institutional term loans, and revolving credit facilities

Vas was also given offers to work at

  • IFC - International Finance Logo

    IFC - International Finance

Education

New York University Logo

New York University

Visiting Student, Corporate Finance

2014 - 2014

Warrington College of Business (Florida) Logo

Warrington College of Business (Florida)

Bachelor’s Degree, Finance

2012 - 2016

Activities and societies: Competitive Policy Debate, Fencing, Honors Program, Center for Entrepreneurship Ambassador

5 Reviews

Overall Rating

5.0


Vas has helped Leland clients get into Pariti

Loading reviews...
Vas D.

Vas D.

5.0

 
Sign in
Free events
Programs