What is Success for me?

Reflections

Last week, I completed two years at my current job!

Over the last two years, I went from an MBA student to an associate in buyside public equity investing, to now also additionally working in early-stage impact investing

Naturally, congratulations were in order and I was having conversations with people in my close network. During the course, conversations meandered to what were my long term plans, my grander vision, the milestones I wanted to reach and how will I measure my success?

Only a couple of people who know me very very well know that I do not identify professional success with personal success, for me they are not two distinct buckets of life- rather my professional life is a small part of my personal life. I do not overshare on my personal social media, am fiercely private, and like to think more than I talk.

As people in my network might be aware, I took a large part of August off from writing, and social media in order to retain some control over the more delicate and important aspects of life than vanity metrics

Consequently, I pondered hard over the weekend about what is my grander vision in life, what do I need to live that vision and do I realistically have the skill set to comfortably believe I can do that?

What skillset do I possess?

We all say we are hardworking, talented, and eager to learn. And I am no different.

But what do I have that others do not, yet? (I think)

I know how to turn setbacks (God knows how many I've endured in life) into opportunities.

I might not be the brightest doe-eyed Ivy league kid on the block, but I am sure as hell more entrepreneurial than most.

I'm not sure if most founders believe me when I say 'Constraints breed Innovation', but I've lived that. I became an Associate in a buyside fund not because of my strong financial and accounting knowledge because I dont possess that, not because of my superior excel gymnastics or valuation modeling skills because I do not believe one can efficiently model everything and no model holds true, but because I had grit and the willingness to make an effort. I got the job because I reached out to the Principal of our firm with an updated note and analysis on a company where he had pointed out my flaws.

I then volunteered to take up the vacant role of impact investing and am doing well without any prior background!

I am honest about my shortcomings

I am transparent about my learnings

I respect the views of people who know more than me, but do not necessarily agree to every statement

I lack in-depth accounting skills that a CA or a CFA has! I lack fancy number-crunching excel jugglery!

But I more than make up for it with:

• Ability to understand concepts
• Process-oriented workflow
• Rational decision making
• Ability to own mistakes and rectify them
• Getting things done
• Building relationships

And it is for that reason that today, despite having the title of just an Associate, I have the autonomy of a Partner.

This also means I am fortunate enough to work with some of the most empathetic people like Dr. Malpani (Malpani Ventures) & Manish (Solidarity) who have provided the freedom for me to be able to be who I am today!

What is my grander vision in life?

I want to contribute for the greater good, for a cause!

I want to set up research processes, functions, and workflows, investment decision-making and execution, and the culture at an investment manager for a nonprofit, or an endowment fund or an ESG fund or a newly set up investment fund.

I am agnostic to public or private investment mandate, but I would prefer the mandate to be in India since I do not believe I will have an edge over others in the local domain at other geographies. I have a 28-year headstart in Indian culture, geography and demography :)

I strongly want to be able to influence the mind and the heart of an investment firm that I help build from scratch. I want to create a legacy of culture, contribution, and cause, more than profits, power, and positions!

My investment style is to acquire quality at a price by following a detailed process, active investment for the long term that meets the mandate, low churn to not end up paying brokerage and taxes and retain value, own leaders in the market to sleep better at night, build conviction via hypothesis that makes finding answers easier and more fun, not be involved in something you do not understand, and finally be ready to make mistakes, but not stop learning!

What do I need to achieve in order to live up to my grander vision?

I can only be able to influence decision making, structure, and processes if I bring something to the table

What do I bring to the table at present?

I bring with myself over 2 years of professional investing experience at a small buyside fund (INR ~500cr), and about a year of experience managing the impact investing mandate of our anchor partner (~25 early-stage impact investments)

I bring with me the ability to identify business models that create value in the long run, a detailed process-oriented decision-making ability via a hypothesis, building simple valuation models that show the crux of a business and value creation potential, ability to spot momentum, creating a feedback loop to keep validating the initial hypothesis, sowing and harvesting organizational learnings by way of retaining data and insights, building relationships with management, and strong communication skills

So what more do I need to bring to the table?

I believe whatever you bring to the table can be quickly eaten, and hence you need to able to keep bringing more and better! And people quickly get tired of just eating the same things everyday as well!

What can I do better tomorrow than today?

I want to be a more of a generalist, than a specialist! What does this mean? I want to know a lot of things, but focus on things I know just a bit better. I want to be agnostic to 'trends' while keeping my investing thought process evergreen

For that I want to identify my Failure Resume, something I need to work on a lot:

• BFSI
• Gold

I believe the rest of the industries are quite easy and simple to understand, or get a grip on. But banking, lending businesses, insurance, the effect of interest rates, inflation, gold - this is something I want to be better at.

And despite my being a self-learner, I value experiences and knowledge of people who have far better and brighter minds than I to assist me in better understanding and turning my failure resume into a success resume

In return, I bring to the table transparent thought process, actionable thinking, organizational insight and learning, and values!

Crafting win-win situations!

What will success look like for me?

Working with a small (up to $500mn not more since the small size is a massive advantage) public or private equity investment manager in impact investing, or an endowment fund, a nonprofit, an ESG fund, or a newly set up investment fund that has a mandate to build a better tomorrow

Using skills to invest, create value that will be used to fund that better tomorrow

Helping build an investment firm from scratch, contribute to its legacy that helps create value for a common cause and greater good

Be able to influence processes, and decision making at an organization that provides me autonomy, leadership and learning opportunities

Nurture tomorrow's talent and keep learning from them

Be a disciple, keep progressing, improving and evolving

Retain ample time to balance work with my larger personal self and life

Make myself, and my close circle proud of my personal and professional achievements

Be happy and satisfied and wait for another summit to climb, if any

It is important to not be rigid, but enterprising and accommodating. Not to be complacent, but aware and evolving

I look forward to being successful

Can we help each other become successful?

If you believe I can contribute to your success and you can contribute to mine, I would love to hear from you.

If you are an early-stage venture looking for growth capital and fit our thesis I would love to hear from you! Send me a Hi! at ss@malpaniventures.com (I'll take up to 3 days to revert)

If you have a new perspective, or working notes that you'd like to share on a publicly listed company in India, I would love to hear from you! Send me a Hi! at ss@solidarity.in (I'll take up to 3 days to revert)

If you are setting up a new fund, or starting a new job at an investment manager, and would like to exchange views on research processes, and decision-making thought process, I would love to hear from you! Send me a Hi! at siddharthshahtech@gmail.com (I'll take up to a week to revert)

Cheers!