How to be a disciplined dreamer
Stories of Role Models
I was born in a university town called Tubingen, south west of Stuttgart, in Germany. My father, a doctorate in Palaeontology, worked as a research scientist there.
Our family motto was to put trust in Science. That shaped my outlook as I grew.
We came back to India and the best gift I carried back for myself was the Germanic work ethic. Punctuality was deeply ingrained into all of us.
Back in Lucknow, where I grew up, my mother was my role model. She supplemented the family income by running a kindergarten from our house. I imbibed the trust that an entrepreneur places in his own sweat and toil - from her.
When parents came to leave their children for school, I saw firsthand the value an Indian mother places on education. Corners can always be cut elsewhere, but not for education. Later, this would show up in my investment choices.
As an immigrant family in Germany, I saw that survival and success depend on making your own choices. I made my choice to move to Bangalore for college. In hindsight, it was a great decision.
I learnt to thrive on my own. I had far too many conversations with new and interesting people and learnt from them. Meanwhile, I continued to devour books, too. For me, my education was both.
Fortune smiled. Wipro began hiring non-engineers and putting them through a learn while you earn program in collaboration with BITS Pilani.
Thus began my 4 year intensive. It involved sleeping under computer tables, pulling all-nighters, slogging over weekdays and slogging over weekends. I must have learnt 8 years' worth in that much time.
I remained ever-curious. I remember poring over Wipro’s annual reports, trying to make sense of the numbers and attending earnings calls. I was trying to figure out what moved the needle and did not need anyone’s blessing to do that.
I have always valued mentors. I found one in Suraj Prakash, at Wipro. While everyone else sought customer-facing projects to work on, I opted for an internal eLearning project that allowed me to lead that project with end-to-end ownership. Friends said it was a risky, regressive step. I disagreed.
Let me try to generalise what I learnt from my Wipro adventure:
The first priority in your early career is learning. Earning comes later.
If you are not yet clear where you are headed, remain curious and explore.
Explore in all and many ways - ideas, concepts and wisdom of experts.
A mentor is someone you can speak freely and guidance from. Do so.
Take risks for what you believe in.
If you can, pick a company culture in line with your own values. I got plain lucky here.
I wanted to do an MBA because I was fascinated by what made businesses tick. I joined coaching for the CAT exam. My scores were below the class median.
I took inspiration from how weight-lifters train. I started taking 2 mock tests back to back every day instead of doing just one. Later it made doing a single test - a breeze.
It was raining heavily that evening when my brother-in-law and I went to the IIMB campus to find out how I had fared. That moment of knowing that I had made it is the 2nd most standout memory of my life - the first one being the birth of our son.
I found an opportunity to study at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University for my 2nd year in MBA as an exchange student.
Again, I was packing in 2 experiences for the price of one, in my learning life.
I find many MBA students surrender academic rigour and excellence for the breadth of exposure. I am of the view it is better to be a part of the system and strive to excel. It helps you not take yourself too seriously. It also helps you filter and move towards your natural strengths.
I met Indrani while still in IIMB. Later, she would become my wife. I don’t know about her, but it was one of the smartest moves I made. A spouse who understands your dreams and supports your realities is worth more than all the achievements in the world.
Soon it was time for summer placements at IIM Bangalore. Visiting for campus placements was Anurag, a VC from The VIEW Group. Once again, I listened to myself.
I dropped out of placements and went and did an internship with them. It was back to 16-hour days in Mumbai - reading, networking, retaining the intensity day after day.
It was during this time I met Gopal Jain at VIEW. By the end of the internship, I had decided this is what I wanted to do long term. I would wait for the opportunity to get there.
My first job out of IIM Bangalore was with Dr Reddy’s in Hyderabad. I was interviewing for the position of executive assistant to the CEO - G V Prasad - and I created a bit of a stir. I insisted on having a respectful interview of my own - with him - before I said yes.
Again, I had found an exceptional mentor in him and would learn so much from him on how to run a business from a CEO and Owner’s perspective and how to build a strong institution, that lasts. Dr Reddy’s gave me a lot of freedom to learn - from assignments in Pharmaceutical Factories to a very enriching stint at their US office in Bridgewater.
I moved to Gaja Capital after working for 2 years here. It was again a fresh start for me, but I had Gopal Jain to look up to.
I had interned with Gopal earlier and found him to be an exceptional investor. Our partner, Ranjit Shah, was a successful CEO and had run companies at scale. I thought simply that if I can dedicate myself to these individuals and help them build a winning team, something wonderful will come out of it.
They had the vision to create a Private Equity firm that would focus on domestic demand. India was growing on the back of exceptionally talented and ambitious, first generation entrepreneurs and we piggybacked on it, to make our growth spectacular too. We owe our success to the exceptional entrepreneurs who chose to partner with Gaja Capital.
Gaja Capital has been a part of my life for 18 years now. What has been my most successful investment as an investor? Gaja Capital, without doubt.