True Heroes

In the series of stories that were big contributors in shaping my thought process, this occurred in the year 1993 when I had just embarked on my startup journey-Comnet.

We were bidding for our first major contract against some global majors. Unlike our competitors, we were a start-up-high on aspiration low on fuel i.e. money. The decision to bid was like a one way flight in the ocean that runs out of fuel unless it finds a refueling ship on time. If we bid and loose we would have no resources left to survive but, if we bid and win there was no looking back.

Did we spend sleepless nights thinking about it?
No, as the excitement of winning dominated any logically considered decision making process. “Startup” was not as charming a word in 1993 as it is today, so we had to think hard on, what we could do to be not seen as resource starved, risky set-up.

So the first decision was for 8 out of the 9 people in the company to land up in Mumbai to show we had the numbers. I still remember the puzzled look on the face of our accountant, who was part of our “numbers” in the technical presentation.

The second was where do we stay? We booked a room in the most expensive five star hotel in South Mumbai, as we wanted the potential client to think we could “afford it”.

To save money, eight of us lived in one room, taking turns to sleep. Whenever the hotel staff would come into the room, six of us would shift to the bathroom. We later won that deal, and the rest as they say is history, as Comnet crossed $1 billion in revenues at a very fast clip.

The reason I am sharing this story with you is because in this win there was a silent hero who I can’t thank enough.

When I was checking out the manager came to chat with me, he winked and asked me- “how are all of you?” I am sure he knew we were eight young kids in that room, and it surprised me that he and his team chose to ignore this. Someone in that hotel took a decision to support a boot strapped startup! And that leader my friends, is my true hero.

Today, out of those eight people in that room, four became CEOs and all of us even today share a very special relationship with the hotel-staying there and giving all our business to that chain. However the most loyal supporter of that chain amongst us is the one who was so tired, that he fell asleep in the bath tub!!