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People go but how they left always stays

Bo Ilsoe
5 min readNov 16, 2020

“People go but how they left always stays”

So wrote poet Rupi Kaur.

This is NOT about a presidential election. My note is a tribute to S.K. Acharya and Kapil Sharma, a founding team I have known for 10 years.

My note is about how two friends co-founded and built a successful business. SK was the quiet, steady force, an operator who managed organisations of more than 6,000 people. He was respected and demanding, making a fuss when quality was down or contracts were broken. Kapil, the younger, more extroverted business mind, worked investors and sales, energetically, and always optimistically, seeing and searching for new opportunities.

My note is about their separation, a separation agreed to several years ago. Kapil gave me permission to share an email that he wrote to SK, with me on copy, a few weeks ago:

Dear SK

As you set off on to a new phase in your life, a range of emotions flows through me. While I want to capture each and every one of them, they keep slipping like grains of sand through my fingers. I’m at a loss for words to describe my relationship with you. Do I call you a friend or a brother or a mentor or a guide!

How can one give one name to a relationship that has spanned 25 years…..one half of my entire life

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Bo Ilsoe
Bo Ilsoe

Written by Bo Ilsoe

Partner at NGP Capital. Raised in Europe. Shaped around the globe. Sharing my learnings through Notes to CEO's.

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