Iron Sharpens Iron Series: Vesh Bhatt, Smartest Human Ever (IMHO)

If you are new to the Iron Sharpens Iron Series, I urge you to check out the inaugural post to learn more about what the series is all about.

Iron sharpens iron, and the people in my life sharpen me. They make me better. They make me more than I can be alone. And this series is about interactions I’ve had that make me better, that change my perspective, and that challenge me to grow. 

This is all about interactions that have left a lasting impression on me. No matter how small, or short the interaction, if it leaves an impression worth sharing, it will live in this series.

Vesh Bhatt

I had the pleasure of meeting Vesh when he was CTO of Attila Security. He has brought two tech startups to life and is quite possibly the smartest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

The Sharpening of Iron

I’ve actually kind of been avoiding writing this one, mostly because I’m pretty sure Vesh will hate me for doing it. He is a quiet and humble person, one who doesn’t typically draw attention to himself.

Sorry, Vesh! But I can’t help myself.

I also struggle to write this particular entry in the series because it is very difficult to narrow it down to just one moment to cover. We’ve worked on tons of content together over the course of the past year, all of which is some of the content I’m most proud of creating and launching in the entirety of my career.

As the most deliberate communicator I’ve ever met, Vesh was a dream to interview. As a typical motor-mouth myself, it was very interesting to observe Vesh’s process upon every question I asked. 

He would quietly think for a moment, compose his answer and then deliver the most perfectly formed thought. It made writing about the very complex topics we discussed incredibly straightforward and easy. 

It also taught me a valuable lesson about being deliberate in everything you do and say. I’d say my interactions with him were very much part of the inspiration for the way we have worded and stated the mission of our organization, and how we live it out every day.

[Editor’s note: this article was originally written and published when I was one of the co-founders of BS+Co. Any discussions of the mission of the organization or the way it operates has likely since changed.]

Our mission is simply this: to be the place nobody wants to leave. From team members to clients, our sole goal is to create an environment and relationships that are so good, so fruitful, and so mutually beneficial that nobody ever wants to end those relationships.

In every 1-1 with our team, we ask the question: “What is the one thing that would cause you to leave BS+Co.?” We ask specifically and deliberately to learn as quickly as possible how we can improve. We ask not to pay lip service to caring, but to deeply and truly understand how we can evolve and change to always be the place people want to call home.

Instead of asking generic questions like, “Are you happy here?” We have shifted to asking very pointed and deliberate questions to ensure we can always be proud of who we are and the environment we create.

Vesh is also one of the most helpful human beings I’ve ever met. Despite the fact that he is quite busy himself, he always has time to talk or brainstorm with me. I recently reached out to him for the sole purpose of bouncing an idea a colleague and I had off of him as a tried and true startup launching veteran.

He not only was willing to listen, he asked some of the most helpful questions and provided some of the most useful advice we’ve ever gotten. But he didn’t stop there, he asked to extend the call so he could continue to ask questions and dive deeper and even offered to do follow up research.

In my wildest dreams I couldn’t have asked for someone to be so genuinely interested and involved, much less for it to be (as previously stated) one of the smartest people I know.

So thank you Vesh, for reminding me to be deliberate in my communication, for helping shape the mission of our organization, and for always being willing to share your incredibly smart brain with me!