Here’s the story, in 2009 one of my friend & earliest client came to Delhi to bid on a contract to build an software to help farmers. Since he doesn’t know very good Hindi he asked me to went along for pre-tender meeting. I went along to humor myself since I hadn’t been to any closed door meetings before, it would be a good experience I said to myself. Now before I go in details about that meeting & how it changed my way of doing business ever since I would like to tell a little about my friend.
My Friend, let’s call him Mr. X is one of the brightest young chap from Southern India, went to an IIT, studied at Top Ivy League on an scholarship & calls himself son of a farmer. His dad owned small patch of land on which they grew small stuff. He was eldest of 5 siblings & studied primarily at a local municipal school where he excelled at Algebra & Mathematics. His father sold the only vehicle they had to support his studies at nearby town during which he stayed with an uncle. He is not the best looking chap, speaks in very short sentences & sometimes just nod when he doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
How we met is an story for some other day, for now let’s imagine Me & Him going to meet the POI {Person of Interest}. To be honest I didn’t noticed this first but he was sweating since morning he arrived, I picked him from the railway station {Yes, We all traveled by train on overnight journeys to save room overnight stay cost in those days}, lodged him at an Inn near airport totally opposite in direction because it’s cheap {I know the Owner}. So I asked him if he was hungry & he nodded, We ate at the Govt Cafeteria on Ground Floor of the POI’s building. Waiting.
POI Calls. Phew. 🙂
He wanted to meet us outside the office, someplace more casual. I knew what that meant since most Delhiwallah mean Booze = Casual, I offered to meet at Blue’s in CP. “A more private place perhaps” He said. I asked if the hotel room would suit him since we are paying for the room anyway. He seemed relaxed when we arrived at the Room, I had picked a few bottles of Beer & a slightly expensive bottle of Rum whose name I cant even pronounce properly.
I don’t Drink, in case you know me. 🙂
“How much do you know about this project”, was the first thing he asked me since I was the one who was doing most of the talking. “I know it will make money” I said shyly, frankly I didn’t even knew what the project was. “It’s going to help a lot of farmers, the data is most important.” he said emphasizing on “Data” explaining that how they needed more experienced people or Tier 2 companies to handle such complex “Data”. I had no clue so I just nodded, my friend however spoke for the first time explaining how he & his team can break this vast “Data” into small modules or color coded symbols that even with very small training normal person like me & you would understand what trend is going on. He seemed impressed, “Very Nice”, he said, “Pour Me a Drink” he said.
1/2 Bottle Later. :-/
“What is your Strength” He asked, “We are a team of 15 Guys” my friend answered, “that’s too low, companies with research teams of over 100 are bidding for this project, how will this work?” he spoke while spitting all over the place. “We can handle this, 4 Guys are IIT’ians & We can always hire more if required during the trial phase of project.” I said. “No way, it’s very hard to justify how we end up giving such an important project to a new company without any experience.” He questioned. “This is an easy project, we can test run for free” my friend said, “don’t pay us if quality of work is not satisfied.” I added. “No can do, once we release work order we pay 25% of project cost. who will guarantee that money” he said stuffing another leg piece, “We can give a bank guarantee for that” My friend said.
I explained to our POI, how an LC {Letter of Credit} would work better since we are an small company & probably would rather work under loan till we receive payments, our bank can attest to account & happily give us an LC than a BG. He sneered at me for the first time realizing we are not some high school kids, “Who are you?” He demanded to know, “Sir, we are partners” My friend said. “Oh, I see. look kid you don’t know what you are talking. here the work is done on cash.” He was now coming to point.
“Saheb will meet you tomorrow, I like you guys normally we would take a cut of 10% but since you are new guys we will only take 8& from you” He demanded. “OK, when do we get the WO {Work Order}”. I asked. “As soon as you submit money” He said. That’s insane, the project value is 2.5cr+ how do a son of farmer come up with that kind of money to pay to Saheb I thought to myself. “We will arrange the commission in a week, are you sure we will get the work” My friend said suddenly. Sure but he would need to pay something in Advance as Saheb is going to meet some other parties during the week. If someone pays before than you, I can’t do anything, I will try to hold since I like you but Saheb has his own mind. You see he is very Big. our new found friend said in confidence.
My friend looked at me, hopeless & helpless.
“How much Advance” I dared to ask?
“2.5 Lakh only” He said devouring another leg piece.
“How can we be sure we will get the work if we agree to pay the money” I asked.
“I can provide Temp WO to start the project, if Saheb doesn’t get his commission, we will cancel the WO & reject submitted work on Quality parameter, there is no process to appeal in WO. So you have no option.” He said with villainous smile.
“Ok, we will arrange money & meet Saheb tomorrow.” I assured.
“You call me first, I will meet you in Cafeteria downstairs then we go meet Saheb together. Don’t talk or ask questions about money to Saheb. Once you pay I will handover the WO.” He explained.
He said goodbye & took the remaining bottle of Rum for Road. Do we have change for 500, Auto wallah’s don’t take large denominations. I offered to drop him till home. “You don’t trust me”, “You want to see where I live.” he blasted. “No I was only offering help, let me pay the Autowallah for you. Please”. “No No No I will handle this” He said looking uninterested. “No Sir, Please let me help, this is least I can do.” I pleaded. “See you tomorrow, don’t be late”. he reminded
We waived him Good Bye. :-{
The next day I paid that money to help my friend, got his company registered in Delhi through my CA so in case there is a dispute it would be settled in Court of Delhi. Jurisdiction my jurisprudence law professor once told me is just like retail. it’s all about 3 things Location, Location & Location. I become the 2nd director in that company & got reimbursed with 10% of shares to repay my loan.
I didn’t knew that he had called his father that previous night & asked for remaining money & that his father would sell that small patch of land to give him that money. We met Saheb the other day & closed the deal. We made a killing in that deal. I got my 2.5 Lakhs + a handsome interest. I wanted to sell those shares back but my friend insisted I retain them.
Current scene. The company is now a 80+ employee company, serving almost 2 dozen clients none in India. I still have 10% shares. We closed at 80 Lakhs in billing last Quarter. My friend bought a home last month for his parents, he still lives in a Rental. We still think about that Half remaining bottle of Rum sometimes.
Love – DS