Page 6 of 12 Years
‘Am I?’
‘Yes, you’re twelve years younger than me. What’s incredible, though, is that you had an offer from Blackwater straight after college. Where did you study?’
‘Stanford.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘California … I used to live in California too.’
‘Ah, I see. And you’re right, by the way. I’m a bit of a daddy’s princess. He paid my college tuition fee.’
‘But you cracked Stanford. And now Blackwater. He must be so proud.’
‘I don’t know. He doesn’t even know Blackwater. Most people don’t, actually.’
‘Only three hundred employees worldwide. But Blackwater manages a hundred-billion-dollar-strong portfolio.’
‘One hundred and twenty billion now,’ Payal said, ‘but I’m a rookie. And the problem with there being so few employees is that nobody’s got the time to teach you anything. They expect you to hit the ground running, be an expert in private equity and evaluating companies from day one. It’s crazy.’
Here was my chance. And I was going to take it.
‘If you ever have any doubts or questions about private equity, no matter how stupid they might seem to you, feel free to ask. I do stand-up comedy now, so I may not know the latest stuff, but I can try to help.’
‘You worked at Yellowstone for a decade—’
Before she could finish her sentence, Mudit and Nimit came back to our table.
‘Nice set-up,’ Nimit said. ‘Definitely has potential.’
Translation: You’re too small for us to invest in right now.
‘If you guys come in—’ Mudit said but Nimit interrupted him.
‘Not now. It needs critical mass for Blackwater to consider it,’ he said.
There you go. Too small.
I looked at Payal again. Our eyes met, as if we were thinking the same thing—that Nimit was just politely turning Mudit down.
She had a cute round face and, now that I knew about her education, a super-sharp brain as well. After how my marriage had ended, I had sworn to never ever fall for a woman again. No, wait, I wasn’t falling for Payal.
‘Bro, he’s talking to you,’ Mudit said, waving his hand in front of my face.
‘What?’ I said in a bit of a daze.
‘Nimit asked you a question,’ Mudit said.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘What?’
‘I said, how did you end up at Yellowstone?’
‘Ages ago, I had a small tech start-up. After a few years, I sold my company to a bigger tech company, where Yellowstone was an investor. During the negotiations, Yellowstone asked me what I was going to do after selling the company. I had no plans. They offered me a job, and I took it.’
‘Oh, so you’ve been a founder too?’ Nimit said. ‘From founder to private equity investor. Impressive.’
‘Yes. It was a tiny company though. I’m not one of those unicorn founders.’
‘Still a founder,’ Payal said.
Why was I experiencing this strong urge to be alone with Payal and talk to her again?
