I run a wealth tech company. In late 2019, I decided to shut down a business line that drove a dozen investment management mandates, running USD 25 million in assets, and decided I had to do something different to scale. My objective was to create impact and alpha for global investors but I saw myself stuck in client mandate customizations.
I had to make a tough choice, to kill an existing revenue pipeline, save operating capital to iterate into a new direction, or continue doing what Einstein said defined human stupidity. “To keep doing the same thing, expecting different results”. I had to close an open door and look for a new one to open. I had spent all of Covid time moving from the model that built 300 Investment management models for one active investment manager to 1 model for a million investors. It was a more courageous direction because though the market opportunity was significantly large (USD 50 T), entry barriers were higher and from Porter’s perspective only a substitute could break through the fort walls of competition.
I had decided to throw the imposter syndrome out of the window and reinvent the Index funds business. The tech was ready. The product was ready. I had onboarded a handful of institutional clients, had embarked on my new roadmap, and was well aware, that my direction was right, but I was still operating with many unknowns. I was relying more on my experience, industry knowledge, and more importantly founder gut feel rather than on a trained strategic mind.
And as serendipity would have it, I checked my spam, as a habit to find some relevant communication stuck in my junk box, misclassified by AI. I had an email from the 500 Global Alberta Program. The email banner said, “Apply Now”. I did not appreciate the word growth hacking and always found it a wordplay rather than something serious. Having worked all my life, obsessively with algorithms, I did what was expected of me, I ignored that email but tagged it as not spam. After a week, the follow-up came. “Apply Now”. I was again preoccupied. After another week, when it said, today is the last day to apply, the consumer sentiment kicked in, and in a matter of minutes, I had enrolled for an audition.
A meeting was fixed up and I was on Zoom with Shaheel, an ex-Mckinsey, Harvard alumni, who carried no airs about his legacy. He was articulate and understood the space and the opportunity. He told me at the end of the call that even if fundraising was a priority for me, I would learn a lot from the program. I thought of giving myself a birthday gift in January and bought a ticket to Edmonton, where the program was conducted. 500’s 51 unicorns USP was a compelling sales pitch.
I was excited about my sabbatical to the heart of the Canadian continent where Indigenous people and European fur traders established their first engagements. The musher in me longed for my Canadian Eskimo dogs in the Boreal forests. While the economist in me wanted to have a first-hand experience of the Albertan transformation of oil riches into a tech economy, knowing well that both commodities and climate had pushed Canada to the forefront of the global economy. I knew that the future success of Canadian financial capital lay somewhere in Alberta, Northern, and Yukon territories. I had no idea, that the city that seemed like silence hung in the air would end up dramatically transforming my business.
On the first day, the first hour, Shaheel told me about the painkiller. “Mukul, If you focus on clients who consider you a vitamin, you will never experience urgency. You need to find clients who consider you a pain killer.” My current business model was addressing the pain of the industry but was not particularly focussed on the ideal client profile (ICP). My pipeline was full of vitamins but short on painkillers. Shaheel was like a clairvoyant sage who looks at you and tells you about the doors you have closed and how you could open new doors. I was hooked.
There were three other mentors. Tarek the CPA who ran a fractional CFO business, the man who could tell you the odds of bankruptcy before you even thought about closing the round. Someone who had the vicarious capability to get in the founder’s head and go to basics. Colin, the no-hold-barred Richard Branson of Edmonton, lived with his heart on his sleeves, and would never mince words when it came to identifying the inane stuff founders carry in their heads. An author, a real musher, who after a grueling day with startups had the energy for an Ice Hockey game.
But the master of the growth hack was Tash. An exuberant, energetic, multiple exits founder, who had done so much work with founders and startups, that she could smell their mental blocks from a mile. All the men bowed in respect to her because she did not take lightly to fuddy duddys. And if I had to pick one learning from my 12 weeks, it was what “Mama Tash” gave us, a thing I have taken to heart, the Yellow Brick Road.
The "Yellow Brick Road" is a well-known fictional pathway that plays a significant role in L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." It serves as a central element of the story and leads the main character, Dorothy, on her journey to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard. In the novel, the Yellow Brick Road is described as a bright golden pathway made of yellow bricks that winds its way through the Land of Oz. It starts from Munchkin Country in the east and stretches to the Emerald City in the west. The road is said to be the most direct and safest route to the Emerald City, and it serves as a guiding path for Dorothy and her companions: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion.
The Yellow Brick Road represents a symbolic journey towards self-discovery, enlightenment, and the pursuit of one's desires. As Dorothy and her friends follow the Yellow Brick Road, they encounter various challenges, obstacles, and colorful characters that test their courage, wisdom, and compassion. In popular culture, the phrase "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" has become synonymous with embarking on a journey or pursuing a goal. It is often used metaphorically to encourage someone to stay focused, persevere, and overcome obstacles to reach their desired destination or achieve their dreams. It's also about staying focussed on the next immediate step to stay on course.
The picture of Dorothy standing there at the beginning of the Yellow Brick Road captured me like nothing else. My entrepreneurial journey suddenly attained simplicity. Founders take a lot of risks to create innovation. But because they have to do so much, with so little, they operate at a sub-optimal level, burning more than what’s needed. Seeking clarity through that maze is a bliss few achieve. Many of them die before they see that clarity. Many who see that clarity end up transforming the world. The Yellow Brick road was my zen, that I achieved when Tash put that slide up.
My conversations became easier. My sales acquisition became clearer. The frequency of Yeses jumped. My narrative became simpler. I unlocked the salesman in me. I became a new man, who could forget that he was a product expert and operate just at a business level. I started listening. I was more lucid. A founder who can calm his mind and listen is a force to reckon with. Listen to your customers, listen to the trends, listen to your stakeholders, and you will never have a challenge taking your business to the next level.
If your teaser deck is 30 pages long and full of text, you have no conception of what a Yellow Brick Road means. “A confused mind says no”. “Businesses don’t buy tech but solutions”. “Growth is a mindset”. “You can’t apply logic before you understand emotion”. “Talk to your customer”. “See what customers do, not what they say”. "Don’t let the idea infatuate you". "You need to start with something small but a rapidly growing market". "The idea is to know what moves the needle". Trying to capture the world from the first step, is a fool’s game.
By the time I finished the program, I had gone from a plan to onboard 99 investors to 10,000 investors. My pipeline was not static, it was alive and ready to on board. Small executions can scale, if only you know, how to step, on the Yellow Brick Road, one step at a time. Business validation is at the heart of a founder’s success. Especially when you can tie up those validations, into a strategy for hypergrowth. Before you scale, you need to stand. Before you sell, you need to listen. Before you close the deals, you need to understand grandfather offers. It’s all about a step at a time. It’s all about the Yellow Brick Road for which all I had to do was let go and listen. Thank you.
