Those who know BLK SHP often compare us to “the Avengers” — a dream team of dream teams who come from a variety of worlds who band together to unleash creativity and artistry, GSD, and make the world a better place. We support this mission and endeavor with a corporate advisory business (BLK SHP, Inc.) and a venture capital business (BLK SHP Ventures or “BSV”), all while having a hell of a lot of fun. We dedicate a significant amount of our profits to our foundation which supports creatives and artists around the world.
Our Team
PETER SIMS
“Eagle”
Founder
Peter Sims is the Founder & Chairman of BLK SHP (Black Sheep). He’s also the best-selling author of True North, co-authored with Bill George, as well as Little Bets, which was named one of the six best books for entrepreneurs by the Wall Street Journal. Previously, he worked as an investor at Summit Partners in London where he co-founded the firm's European office. He has also been an advisor at Google[x], The Moonshot Factory, Alphabet's semi-secret innovation laboratory.
J. TAYLOR CRANDALL
“Mr Wolf”
Chairman, BSV
J. Taylor Crandall is Chairman emeritus and a founding member of Oak Hill Capital Partners which he co-founded in 1986. Crandall serves on the board of directors of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and has served on numerous public and private company boards in the past, including serving as a director of American Skiing Company, Bell & Howell, Cincinnati Bell, Genpact Limited, Interstate Hotels and Resorts, Meristar Hospitality Corporation, Quaker State and Washington Mutual. Crandall earned a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Bowdoin College, where he received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Bowdoin College in 2010.
ED CATMULL
“Da Vinci”
Operating Partner
Ed Catmull is the co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, where he was the company’s long-time President, as well as the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to computer science and 3D computer graphics, including with the 2019 ACM Turing Award. His book, Creativity, Inc., was a New York Times best-seller. He has also been an advisor at Google[x].
CARL BASS
“The Godfather’
Operating Partner
Carl Bass is a former President and CEO of Autodesk, Inc., which grew by nearly 10x during Carl’s tenure as CEO. Previously, Bass was a co-founder of Ithaca Software, which commercialized HOOPS, a 3D graphics system, before it was acquired by Autodesk. He serves on the Board of Directors of Autodesk, HP Inc., Zendesk Inc., Planet, VELO3D, Formlabs Inc., Box, and Built Robotics. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He has also been an advisor at Google[x], and a special advisor to Alphabet co-founder & CEO Larry Page.
MARCO ANNUNZIATA
“Copernicus”
Senior Strategist
Marco Annunziata was the Chief Economist & Head of Business Innovation Strategy at GE.
Annuziata served on the Board of Advisors on Information Technology of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; as Entrepreneur in Residence at GE Ventures and a Research Fellow at Autodesk. He is the author of "The Economics of the Financial Crisis", which twice won the Rybczynski Prize for best paper in business economics, and writes for the Harvard Business Review and other business and financial publications. He is a Princeton PhD economist, but as he likes to say, “with an optimistic twist.”
FARHOUD MEYBODI
“Faceman”
Senior Creative Director
Farhoud Meybodi is an award-winning writer, director, and executive producer focused on storytelling that inspires cultural change. He is founder of Ritual Arts studio & Tribeca X Award winning filmmaker. As an entrepreneur and filmmaker, he has spent fifteen years collaborating on culture-shifting film and television projects that have reached over two billion viewers. He is a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. His work has been recognized at the Tribeca Film Festival, Television Academy Honors, Clio Awards, Cannes Lions, AICP Awards, Telly Awards, One Show Awards, Jackson Wild Awards, and many others.
DANIELLE FULLER
“Scully”
Account Lead
Danielle Fuller is a seasoned account and executive leader with pedigree in building brands and customer experiences for a range of businesses. She served previously as a Managing Director at Victors & Spoils and an SVP, Executive Group Director at Ogilvy and Mather. Purpose-driven with a hands-on in style, Fuller thrives on leading high performing, multi-disciplinary teams to deliver truly exceptional results.
AMRIT SAXENA
“James Bond”
Venture Partner
Amrit Saxena is the Founder & CEO of SaxeCap. Prior to SaxeCap, Amrit successfully founded & sold two AI companies (Fancy That to Palantir, Stella to PE funds). Amrit is also an active angel investor in data, AI, and enterprise software companies in the Silicon Valley. Amrit received his B.S. in Computer Science with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence and M.S. in Management Science & Engineering , both from Stanford University with Distinction.
CHRIS YEH
“Doctor”
Co-head, Silicon Guild (BLK SHP thought leadership guild)
Chris Yeh is the co-author, along with Reid Hoffman, of Blitzscaling, the book that explains how to build world-changing companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Airbnb in record time. A writer, investor, and entrepreneur, Chris has had a ringside seat in the world of startups and scaleups since 1995. His books help founders, venture capitalists, corporate leaders, policymakers, and everyday people better understand how the internet has changed the way we work together to build amazing organizations.
RITA MCGRATH
“Joy”
Co-head, Silicon Guild
Rita McGrath is a best-selling author and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50. Rita is the author of the best-selling The End of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013). Her most recent book is Seeing Around Corners (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019).