‘What about starting our family?’
‘Yes we need to discuss and plan it together.’
The discussion would have lasted longer but at this point of time, Akshay wanted to assure Garima about his support. He didn’t want to make her feel as if starting a family wasn’t important to him.
Akshay wanted to do something in the online world, as digital transformation was happening in India faster than expected. Akshay had many product ideas with in his mind but he was not sure about the business viability of any of them. He discussed and evaluated his ideas with some of his close friends over drinks. Most of his friends were not sure about the revenue model.
After thrashing out of the various ideas he had in his mind, Akshay realized that just a good idea would not guarantee a sustainable business. Akshay decided to take a step back and focus on research. Based on that extensive research, he spotted a potential for creating an online healthcare company. The healthcare industry was booming in India seeing its growth potential, many international funds were already eyeing the Indian market for making investments. Akshay realized that the healthcare infrastructure was lagging in India and even basic consulting options were not available in smaller cities.
He started creating business plan keeping in mind various assumptions. Akshay was aware that like any other business, his venture would also require capital infusion. To avoid equity dilution, he did not want institutional funding, at the idea stage. He was open to raising funds from friends and family. Akshay and Garima had saved reasonable amount of money to fund the initial launch but he needed Garima’s support for this decision. After rigorous analysis on various aspects of his venture, he discussed his idea with Garima. Akshay trusted her instincts and wanted her approval for building his own confidence.
Garima was watching TV in the bedroom when Akshay reached out to her. ‘Garima since our last discussion, I have been working on my potential venture. I have done a lot of research and have a prepared a small presentation and business plan for my venture. This plan now needs your blessings!’
‘Come on Akshay! Why are you so formal! You need my help. Just say it!’
‘Yes dear I need your help!’
‘Now or later?’
‘Don’t tease me. I will get my laptop!’
Akshay’s request to review his business plan made Garima very happy. She reviewed the business plan dispassionately and professionally. She asked many questions around the key assumptions, business viability, growth, technology and operations.
After the discussion, Garima said, ‘Well I am convinced with your business model. However, I believe that you will need a strong person for managing your technology. Have you thought about a business partner for this?’
‘Great! You are right about Technology. I will outsource our software development work and will hire CTO later.’
‘Sure that strategy would work! I can help you with this. You can’t afford our company right now for software development!’
‘Well hiring your company for my venture would be a big milestone for me!’
‘Do you think this is the right time for me to take a plunge?’
‘Yes! You just need my blessings!’
‘Thanks darling! Now I am confident of becoming a successful entrepreneur!’
Akshay was a happy man; he was not only starting phase two of his career but also moving to fulfil his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. He felt the same passion again, more than ever before. Garima’s support for taking this turned out to be a confidence booster for him. Akshay launched Hailthy, India’s first online healthcare company. He met his friends and some family members. Only this time his objective was to raise seed capital. Akshay was from a middle class family that understood value of money and smart investment. Akshay was of view that if friends and family invest, it would be a good sign for his venture.
After charting out some milestones and timelines, Akshay decided to quit his job. As a top performer in his company, he was on the path for a stellar career. The conversation Akshay had with his boss, Tarun was a difficult on. Akshay’s decision shocked him. Even though under no obligation, Akshay shared his plans with Tarun.
After hearing Akshay’s plans, Tarun congratulated him and said, ‘It is a tough decision but I am sure it is a well thought one. I am confident that you will do well in this venture. I wish we had something to offer to you. Congratulations!’
Akshay replied, ‘Thanks a lot Tarun. Your conviction means a lot to me as I have always valued your opinion. I will provide the needed support for a smooth client transition.
After his resignation, Akshay and Garima started their discussion on family planning. This was a priority for Garima but not for him. Akshay took a short vacation to Goa to find more relaxed time and discuss this with Garima to understand her seriousness. Clearly this was a bad timing but finally Akshay had to succumb to her decision. Few months passed by and they kept waiting for some positive development but there was no progress.
They decided to meet Garima’s gynecologist to discuss this issue. The doctor suggested few routine tests for both of them. Individually both of them had normal results but there was something wrong with their compatibility. Due to this incompatibility, Garima’s uterus turned hostile towards Akshay’s sperm cells and this hampered any fertilization. The gynecologist suggested IVF but the procedure was very demanding. It was tough for her to manage this process along with her demanding job. She decided to share her frustration with Akshay.
‘Akshay, this IVF process is crazy and I can’t do this. It is also causing hormonal imbalance in me. There are mood swings and what not. I have tried a lot but it not possible to continue with this torture anymore.’
Akshay was also getting impatient with time and said, ‘So go for Leave of Absence if you want this. It is important for you. Right?’
‘Come on Akshay! How can you even ask this? I am not going to quit my job right now. You have resigned and you must understand that all ventures have some risk of failure. So one of us has to earn. That would be me for now.’
‘I am confused. What do you want?’
‘We can try surrogacy or adoption?’
‘No way! Garima I agreed for all this despite bad timing as you wanted to start a family. Adoption? I am not mentally ready for it. We can explore surrogacy.’
‘I need time to think about surrogacy as it is not quite organized in India. I have heard many horror stories as well.’
‘Fine. This would be the least disruptive option.’
‘I need more time to think Akshay.’
‘Sure Garima take your time. I have a lot to do right now for the venture.
Akshay launched Hailthy after his notice period. He found a small office space near Sohna road in Gurgaon for his venture and hired few employees. He wanted to launch his website on a priority but for this B2C business, Android and iOS applications were equally important. Garima was right about the software development part. His online business could not take off on time due to the delays in the software development. It took him more than three months just to finalize software vendor. The requirement gathering took about two more months as he was not ready with all the requirements. His launched the beta site for Hailthy in six months after the finalization of the software vendor.
In parallel, he had worked for tie-ups with doctors, hospitals and other service providers for the business. He also planned to launch video-based digital consulting with a focus on smaller cities. After the launch of his website, Akshay hired a marketing agency to manage his digital advertising for customer acquisition. This strategy did not work well and the marketing agency was burning money fast.
It was then that Akshay started hiring some passionate students from his alma mater IIT Delhi. This was a new concept in the market but after initial challenges, it had a good acceptance amongst the consumers. The digital marketing team had more experience now and the cost of customer acquisition started dropping- a good sign for any business. A
kshay started to look out for institutional funding to power growth.
Since the business was doing well with high growth and breakeven in sight, raising Series A capital was quite easy for Akshay.
Being a self-made man and extremely ambitious from the very beginning, Akshay had many dreams. Akshay had always thought that his venture would finally transform to a huge empire, for his future generations. Garima finally did not agree for surrogacy and her frustration was quite visible. With time, this started reflecting in her relationship with Akshay. Akshay started showing it either through periods of long silence or sudden outbursts of anger.
Garima was focused completely on her career and traveled across the world for her IT projects. While Garima knew about Hailthy’s progress she did not take much interest in it. Due to her lukewarm attitude, Akshay stopped discussing Hailthy at home altogether.
Both of them slowly started drifting apart and for the first time they felt the need to go for counseling sessions. Both of them knew the problem but each was not ready for a compromise. After sometime, they saw no point in continuing with counseling sessions.
Eventually Akshay found solace in his entrepreneurial journey and started spending more time on his venture. Garima kept herself occupied with work and social life with her office colleagues.
The Affair
Tanuja was standing next to Akshay, when Joe’s call came. She could sense some disappointment in Akshay’s tone. She asked, ‘Are you not happy with the terms of investment?’
‘Tanuja. I don’t know the details but Joe did speak about lower valuation. I will talk to him tomorrow on this. There is a cab waiting for me. I can drop you.’
‘Sure Akshay.’
After dropping Tanuja home, Akshay reached home. He didn’t bother to disturb Garima and decided to check his emails. He finally started review of the term sheet. The New York trip had raised Akshay’s expectations for a big funding but Akshay was not too pleased with Joe’s call.. He was not ready to compromise on company’s valuation. The dilution of equity was quite heavy in the first two rounds of funding and he wanted to keep reasonable equity for his exit. When Joe called him the next day, Akshay expressed his concerns.
‘Joe I have read the term sheet in details and it makes no sense for me. Low company valuation is a show stopper as far as I am concerned.’
‘I think we can leverage this term sheet to get better investment terms. Your other meetings in New York were quite good and some investors have shown active interest in Hailthy. If you are ready travel again, we can also cover SFO. ’
‘Sure; I can travel on the weekend again, if you want.’
‘Well not that fast! I need some time to schedule our meetings. I will let you know by the end of this week. See you.’
‘Sure; keep me posted.’
Akshay and Tanuja travelled again to USA after a few weeks but could not close the funding even after their second visit. This time, Tanuja got more of an opportunity to interact with Akshay on the personal front. She quickly learnt about Akshay’s married life, including some of his personal circumstances. However, she always managed to keep questions about her personal life away from Akshay. She wanted Akshay to get desperate.
After the second New York trip, Akshay decided to focus on PE funds with presence in India, which led to frequent trips to Mumbai. Tanuja accompanied him on all these trips. After few meetings with a company called Nevi Capital, Akshay decided to close the bridge round with them. He spoke to Joe to keep him in the loop.
‘Hi Joe!
‘Hello Akshay! How are you doing?’
‘Joe, after my previous US visit I met a few local investors here in Mumbai and one of them has expressed to invest 20 million USD as bridge capital.’
‘Hmm, basically they will get discount on the valuation determined by the Lead investor. Who is the investor?’
‘You got it. It is Nevi Capital.’
‘What is the time frame of this investment?’
‘They are planning to invest within few weeks as they are planning only legal diligence as of now.’
‘Hi Akshay this is great news but before closing anything with them please meet Rob from VAS Capital once again.’
‘Why do you say so?!
‘You know how all this is. He is quite keen to invest and may not get a chance again!’
‘Sure let me plan a quick visit but only to meet Rob.’
‘Sure thing.’
During their third trip to New York, the relationship between Akshay and Tanuja took a different course altogether. As agreed with Joe, they met Rob. The meeting was informal this time and Rob was more interested in knowing the details of the term sheet given by Nevi Capital.
The meeting went very well and Rob promised them a quick term sheet with an aggressive business valuation – close to a billion dollar. Beyond wealth creation, this was a big deal by all standards not only for Akshay’s family and friends but also for his batch mates both from IIT and from IIM. He was all set to get media attention and get due regard in the entrepreneurs’ community.
To celebrate this, he took Tanuja out for dinner in Robert, a posh restaurant of New York. Tanuja had dressed for the occasion. She wasn’t in her usual black pants and bright colored shirts, she looked stunning in her dress. Akshay for the first time also took effort to dress properly for the dinner. He hadn’t done so since the last office party that took place earlier that year.
Just like Akshay, Tanuja was also getting closer to her dreams. The successful stint with Hailthy and her experience would make it easier for her to raise funds, for her own venture later. She had never shared this with Akshay.
While having dinner Akshay discussed his plans for Tanuja’s role going forward. He asked, ‘What role would you like if this round of funding comes through?’ Tanuja was enjoying the view and it took her some time to comprehend Akshay’s question. She was already part of the management committee so the question came as surprise for her. Tanuja decided to play it safe and responded, ‘I am ready to accept any role Akshay.. What exactly are you thinking? Things have worked out really well for me.’
Akshay said in a calculated manner, ‘I am going to be very frank. It is important for me to understand your personal plans as this could impact your future role.’
Tanuja could sense the moment. She realized that something important was about to be discussed. She smiled and leaned forward to tap Akshay’s hand.
‘My marriage will be a few years away that much I can assure you. If that is what you are asking.’ Tanuja had communicated her commitment in the manner Akshay wanted but she quickly changed the subject. Before Akshay could react, she gave a very playful look to Akshay and said, ‘Can we order wine today?’
Akshay was surprised as Tanuja had never order any alcoholic drink in the past. He was not too sure if she would drink. He still wanted to confirm and asked, ‘I am assuming we are talking about wine for two. Right?’
Tanuja smiled.
Tanuja had been planning this for quite some time. Finally, the moment came where they had a good reason to celebrate and they were far away from home. Akshay called the server and ordered Red wine for both of them. The server came with a bottle of wine and offered Tanuja to taste the same. Tanuja instead of following the routine just gulped the wine
The server didn’t say anything and just looked at Akshay for his approval. Akshay smiled and asked him to pour for both of them. Akshay picked his wine glass and said ‘Cheers to our fund raise and this beautiful moment.’
‘Cheers!’
Tanuja started enjoying Manhattan’s skyline. The air was cool and refreshing and she was mentally preparing herself for the line of conversation. After two glasses of wine, it was Tanuja’s turn to be more casual with Akshay. She picked the topic again and asked, ‘So someone is curious today.’ Akshay raised his left eyebrow slightly. He often did this whenever someone caught him off guard.
Akshay was a little hesitant but had to respond to Tanuja. He said
, ‘Yes, you can assume that this is my way of checking your plans. Sometimes there is a lot of family pressure too. We are at a stage where I do not want any disruption in our growth plan after this investment. A lot international travel would be expected from this role.’
Tanuja didn’t say anything. She continued sipping. Akshay waited patiently for her response.
‘Well these are two separate questions. Which one should I answer first? How old do you think I am?’
This caught Akshay completely off guard. Tanuja had surprised him with her direct questions. He smiled and said, ‘I think you know the answer. We have spent so much time together and you know almost everything about me.
‘Yes almost but not everything.’
‘Boyfriend first then. Later you can ask anything. We have time on our side today and this wine is good.’
‘I had a steady relationship at campus.’
Suddenly vivid memories about her IIMB professor came to Tanuja’s mind. She shrugged them away. This was not the time. She continued.
‘There is no point revealing more details as he is happily married. After campus, I joined Hailthy and never got any time. You keep me busy’, said Tanuja.
‘As if I am controlling your time after office hours. So you are a free bird.’ exclaimed Akshay.
Tanuja didn’t say anything and gulped another sip of wine.
‘I have seen you in parties Tanuja.’
‘What about parties?’
‘Nothing specific to point out; but you do have good time with many of your colleagues. Mostly you are the center of attraction. Now don’t tell me that no one has proposed to you so far.’
‘Hmm so you do keep an eye on me. Good to know. I thought you were always busy flirting with your own gang of girls. Tell me something, why all new joiners – mostly girls – are around you?’
Akshay almost went defensive on that one. ‘I think we have intentionally decided not to mingle during office parties.’
‘Oh please! I do not think you discussed anything like this with me before. I thought this is what you wanted. But if you insist we can keep it this way.’
Sinner's Game: Karma will chase! Page 10
