JET SETTER

JUSTUS PARMAR IS THE VANCOUVER-BASED managing director of Fortuna Investments, a venture capital firm that has raised more than $ 300 million for 125 earlystage companies. With a home in Los Angeles, offices from Toronto to Barbados and business in far-flung places, from Israel to Argentina and Tanzania, he finds “bleisure” balance in combining work and play. “I do try to travel with my girlfriend,” Parmar explains. “It can be kind of lonely, with so much time by yourself and your phone.” Parmar says he's fortunate to do business only with those he likes: “The people I go to dinner with are friends as well as associates or businesses we're investing into.” In an era of Skype, Facetime and video conferences, he still closes some of his biggest deals in person.

Counter to the modern mania for packing light, Parmar checks his Louis Vuitton luggage, complete with multiple shoe and wardrobe options. “I overpack!” he says with a laugh. “It's better than not having the right attire, and it's more convenient than dragging a bag around the airport.” Calling himself a sucker for airport shopping, he says: “Everything seems like a better idea when you're travelling.”

Parmar sometimes borrows a friend's private plane. “I'd be upset with myself if I didn't have a jet by 40,” admits the 36-year-old, who uses flight time to recharge and sleep. “Melatonin five or six hours before I land, in combination with good red wine, seems to do the trick.”

He jumps right into full workdays in a new time zone. “I'm lucky: I bounce back pretty quick from jet lag,” Parmar says. “Talk to me in 10 or 20 years, it might not be the same!”