Friday, September 19, 2014

RIP Patrick.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of INSEAD graduates owe their entrepreneurial madness to this super humble, super keen, and an upright straight talker - Patrick Turner. The professor who encouraged people to dream big, to take leaps of faith and to 'never, ever run out of cash'. I owe him a lot. He helped me accept myself as being different and supported me in realizing what I am capable of. So in his memory, I tell you all about the David vs. Goliath. Some random Friday morning, 3am, a bit drunk....it was just over a month since I had been mulling about the under performance of the company where I was interning. This is a billion dollar plus, public listed company in the healthcare space. And it happened - I emailed Patrick for the first time "Patrick, I want to buy this company". The next morning, Patrick replied "Seriously? Lets talk when you are in Singapore". Without going into the details, at INSEAD I didn't bother looking for jobs. With immense help from Patrick, I secured PE backing of upto 300 mn Eur to buyout a part of the public listed company where I interned. It was the defining phase of my life where I came to terms of with a lot of things. I grew some massive cojones too - well you have no choice when you walk into the boardroom of a tier 1 PE fund, eating expensive sushi and you are supposed to convince them why a fuckin 28 year old thinks he can do better with a public listed business. The deal didn't work out. During the due diligence phase, the target withdrew their interest from selling. I was close to running out of cash, with the recruitment period over. I somehow found myself a consulting gig (note: even dumb asses like me can end up in consulting post INSEAD) and am currently COO of a business unit within the FTSE 100 company. Since graduation I attempted two other buyouts, with solid PE backing, but fortunately it was me who withdrew interest from the deal after due diligence. And I am on my way out of the corporate gig too. I will be going back to entrepreneurship very soon. Patrick - this is for you. You made a huge difference to my life. You instilled in me a weird mix of values and ambition. A sense of doing something with good intent. A sense of courage to not give up to suited jocks. You listened to every random shit I came up with. I will forever remember the beer you bought me when we were in the due diligence phase and I was running out of cash. You, sir, were truly great. Rest in peace.

1 comment:

Cliffhanger said...

Hi,
I just stumbled onto your blog.

"Patrick, I want to buy this company".
When I read that line, I was stunned. Thank you Sir (or Madam) ! I am printing this page down, BOLDENING that line, and pasting it on my wall. Thank you for restoring my faith in the idea that big dreams need the ability to take seemingly crazy decisions.

It is heartening to hear this inspiring story of an inspiring man. I have not known Patrick and I am not an MBA student, but my heart goes out to him and his family. Rest in Peace.