Podcast - Conversations with Emm, Love, Finance and Everything in Between w/ Sameer (28th January 2019)
From India, born there, did high-school in Dubai and went to McGill (3yr Undergrad), got a job offer to join RBS after an internship in Dubai Office
DIA, richer families with wealthy kids flexing
Grade 9 -11 in Malaysia, formative years
Always liked the idea of business, to put limited resources together and create a product of value
Finance and banking isn’t it, very rigid, like being in the army
‘Things you learn from life experience and living life cannot be taught from case studies’
Came to conclusion with Iryna of ‘Why 40? Why not now?’
Didn’t make sense from perspective of parents
Honing creative energy and passion for not following rules (I share this sentiment)
Iryna as a pillar in building Sameer, in terms of learning about life and being a good entrepreneur
First year was tough, went from structured environment to doing whatever you want, external pressures and internal pressures on yourself
Need to appeal to banks and counterparties
Sales at the start, not easy
RDCP predominantly focused on healthcare, used to be owned by government back in 80s/90s, and RDCP saw growing potential in high margins and returns
Sameer didn’t figure that out before he quit RBS, figured out when he jumped in
Sameer learned as he went, can’t read about it, can’t go to HBS and read about successful businesses to teach you
Ultimately you learn from taking a deep dive
Started RDCP as a PE firm, raising from high-net worth investors/people in the middle east etc
And it didn’t work
Had to go back to the drawing board and convince banks that they could get capital
Had to pull together limited resources and buy the 1st business, and then growing from there
Intelligent investing and intelligent re-deployment of capital
As an entrepreneur, the hard times never really end, bigger challenges, truth is that yes you won’t be dealing with the same challenges you dealt with initially
Makes the saying that “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey” ring true
Learning to live with challenges over time
Sameer built the confidence through the CFA and McGill education to know things finance, and things not learned by books you can learn through live experiences
Iryna gave Sameer confidence, to not be the new guy in this new city
Real happiness comes from success and milestones in the business, from doing the work (setting hard goals and achieving)
If you’re purely chasing the car and the house, it’s much harder, not going to work
‘If the deal I’m working on isn’t completed’, I don’t get the same level of satisfaction
One of the biggest career choices you make, is your spouse.
Downtime being important; gym, martial arts, dining (London has a lot to offer)
Worked hard to squeeze as much as possible inorganically via acquisitions
