Born in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India in 1967, Kiran married Marianne from Denmark in 1996 after a whirlwind officer and apprentice romance at sea. They reside in Denmark and have two children, Kristian and Kia.
In a career that spanned multiple decades, continents, business domains and cultures, Kiran armed with his charming smile and other appealing traits, grew from a home appliance salesman to a merchant marine officer, and finally an ambitious ‘stay-at-work’ father in famed Fortune companies and start-ups.
This career came to an abrupt end with an unexpected burn out in 2020 that also almost extinguished his cherished smile. After a period of intense introspection where he confronted many daunting challenges that are intrinsic to being a leader and entrepreneur with ADHD, Kiran began to reinvent himself.
In his new persona as a ‘former stay-at-work’ entrepreneur, Kiran, weaved ‘jugaad’, an Indian philosophy of frugal and innovative problem solving, with ‘hygge’ a Danish concept of simplicity and cultivating meaningful relationships, to start navigating his life in an entirely new direction. Shrugging off his Smile-less Pauper avatar he has begun to re-emerge as Mr. Billion Smiles, no longer measuring his worth in purely monetary terms.
While Kiran’s charming smile and a confident air are contagious and can surely create a few million smiles, reaching his goal of creating a billion smiles everyday will entail a lot of hard work. Enthused by this new aim, Kiran, the visionary, strategic leader and entrepreneur, with Marianne, his anchor, by his side are often ensconced in their sea facing shack “The Billion Smile Bridge”, while navigating their way through all weather conditions on an odyssey to create a billion smiles every day!
Meet Kiran at www.kiranvas.com where he journals his experiences to inspire other Smile-less Paupers to accumulate a new wealth that can also be measured in the currency of smiles.