Srinivasu Satti
Class of 2003
Founder, Finvista Advisors
Previous Occupation: Vice President & Head of M&A – Satyam Computer Services Ltd
Present Occupation: Founder & Managing Director, Finvista Advisors Pvt. Ltd
Sector: Mergers & Acquisitions and Investments Advisory
Work Experience: 21 years
Interests – Personal and Professional: Leadership in different walks of life, Global Economics, Politics
Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
I was born in an agricultural and small business family in Andhra Pradesh. I am the only son of my parents and I have three sisters. My father ran a local business in charcoal for 30 years before that consumer item was overshadowed by the abundant availability of cooking gas in the early nineties. Having had just a primary education, my parents were particular that I earn at least a diploma in technical education. We had a renowned polytechnic college in our hometown and those who studied there got jobs in the public sector. My father saw many of his friends’ sons getting jobs in public sector after completing the polytechnic course, so his goal was to see me follow that path. Other than this exposure, there were not many educated people in our family to expose me to career planning. This was the early eighties. I took the polytechnic common entrance exam after Class 10 and secured a seat, but it was not in my hometown. Being the only son, my parents did not want me to leave town, and I let go of that opportunity. I began my Intermediate studies at the local college and things gradually started becoming clear to me. At that time, a few private engineering colleges had been established in AP and the common entrance test was becoming popular. I sat for the entrance test and just managed to secure a seat in civil engineering at an engineering college about 40 km away from my hometown. My parents reluctantly let me go; ultimately they could not resist the thought that I would become an engineer.
Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
After joining engineering college, things started changing for the better. From being an average student up to my Intermediate studies, I became the class topper in the first year of engineering. This was the first success and recognition I had earned in my life. And this changed my orbit of performance (and in some sense, continued to push me to perform better) as I had to defend my top rank position in subsequent years. Ultimately, I became the best outgoing student from among all the branches (300 students) and was awarded the college Gold Medal. From here, I went on to secure the best Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) rank among all the fourth year students of the college in the entrance exam for M.Tech and joined IIT-Madras. My success in education continued as I became the topper among all the divisions of the civil engineering branch at IIT-Madras and secured the Gold Medal once again.
I started my career as a Design Engineer with L&T-ECC and worked there for more than four years. Working at L&T exposed me to a top class professional environment in core engineering and earned me recognition as a sub-structural engineering expert in the large scale infrastructure division at L&T-ECC. I was honing my leadership skills during this stint. In 1996, I came across a very inviting newspaper advertisement by Satyam Computers calling for “leaders” from other industries to join information technology (IT). At that time, software services was a big buzzword. I applied for the position and was put through a gruelling “assessment centre” style recruitment process, which was not very prevalent at that time. I was recruited as a Project Leader and my career took a very different turn after this, thanks to the leadership culture at Satyam. I got an opportunity to work in the US for two years and then was tapped to work in corporate strategy, despite not having an MBA degree. That was around the time ISB took on its first batch of students.
Tell us about your profile pre-ISB, and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Satyam was one of the sponsors of the Global Consulting Practicum for the first batch of ISB students and I was the point of contact from Satyam’s side. This gave me direct exposure to ISB and ignited in me the desire to get an MBA degree, and that too only from ISB. I took the GMAT exam, applied to ISB, got an interview call and secured a seat. It was a fairy tale of sorts. I was reporting to K. Thiagarajan, who was heading corporate strategy at Satyam, and he was at that time contemplating formulating a policy to extend financial sponsorship to a couple of employees every year from Satyam. My admission to ISB had actually accelerated this policy decision and I was the first person from Satyam to benefit from the sponsorship. My school fees were entirely sponsored by Satyam! And I got unpaid leave for one year on top of it. I may very well have been the first ISB student to have studied there free of cost.
After ISB, I went back to Satyam and was placed two levels above my pre-ISB role − quite an endorsement of the ISB programme. At this time, armed with a global management degree, I got my first professional break in the form of starting the M&A group at Satyam (until then, the company had not made any acquisitions), and I started to actively pursue acquisitions for the company, mainly in the cross-border space. My work was recognised by all the top corporate and business leaders in the company, and I was fully utilising many of the skills I had acquired at ISB. My first acquisition, despite going through a lot of rough weather, was a major success – a high-end consulting company in London with a purchase price of US$40 million. I learned all the nuances of cross-border M&A with just one deal (such was the arduous journey I went through) and after this, I never looked back. Over the next three years, we closed another seven deals across the US, Belgium, Singapore and the UK.
Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
On the personal front, my wife and I were blessed with our second daughter while I was midway through the programme. Our baby is, in effect, an “ISB baby,” and therefore the ISB tag will accompany us forever. My fondest memory of the campus is the daily walk to the academic block from the student village and looking at the gigantic structure that stands tall, reinforcing the spirit of “leadership”.
In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression
I think ISB has made me a “holistic” person. This completeness comes from the fact that any organisation has multiple dimensions, all of which work independently as well as collectively, and an appreciation of this gives one a great understanding of the organisation. And once we understand it totally, we will be able to create value. This is a “paradigm” shift. I strongly believe that this knowledge changes one “personally” as well. Core business skills such as listening skills, negotiation skills, marketing skills, economics, partnerships, talent management, etc., have given me a holistic perspective on life matters as well. So, I would say that ISB has had a profound impact on my personality as well.
How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
I must say ISB’s contribution is immense. Once I rejoined Satyam, I was asked to start looking into inorganic growth. With 10 years of experience behind me topped by an ISB degree, I felt very confident that I could do the job. I set up a small M&A team from scratch. Within a span of four years, I saw myself become successful in the M&A arena, closing seven cross-border deals for Satyam (and handling many others that fell through midway, but nevertheless were very worthy experiences). Credit goes to my reporting manager (K. Thiagarajan) who had faith in me and gave me responsibilities for which I had no prior experience save the ISB degree. It was this career growth that later led me to become an entrepreneur with the setting up of Finvista Advisors, which provided M&A advisory services to global clients.
If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Conviction.
What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
A great constellation of visiting professors and the lifelong treasure of a successful alumni network.
Word of advice for the current class?
Always look for the theme that connects all the subjects together to make for a holistic learning experience and give equal importance to all the subjects. Make the best of your ISB experience while you are on campus, but mind you, the real learning starts once you leave campus and put the learning to real world use. Don’t throw away any of your course packs or handouts. You will surely have cause to refer to them later.
What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
There were many favourites, and I cannot pick just one. Corporate Strategy by Professor Harbir Singh, Negotiations by Professor Madan Pillutla and Managing Strategic Partnerships by Professor Phanish Puranam were the most memorable. The reason these are my favourites is because I find them the most useful in my current role. The negotiations course was simply superb because of the real-life learning and its utility value.
Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
I benefitted immensely from the mentorship of K. Thiagarajan, the Head of Corporate Strategy at Satyam at that time. I was reporting to him directly. In fact, he was to set up an e-business school in Hyderabad on the lines of ISB and had great knowledge of management education and its relevance in the Indian context. His insights proved to be of great help for my learning at ISB.
What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
ISB has given me so much and I believe it is my duty to give something back. A few ways I can do so is through mentoring, guest lectures in M&A, admission interviews and career counselling.
What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
The variety and the complexity of a high-end corporate development advisory.
What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?
First of all, India has been lagging badly in terms of M&A and investment activity (growth tumbling and investor confidence ebbing) in the last few years, but with the India growth story and consumption story remaining intact, it’s only a matter of time before that translates into heightened action if a favourable political environment is created. Second, the private equity (PE) industry in India is sitting on piles of money looking for opportunity flow. There is a renewed focus on Indian technology success stories, and PE and venture capital (VC) funds will surely flow liberally towards Indian tech opportunities in 2014 and 2015.