The hot and humid summer afternoon in Kochi transformed into an animated conversation about entrepreneurship, business opportunities and of course football when FWD Life met Prasad V. Potluri, the master brain behind PVP Ventures.

In the classy ambience of the coffee lounge at Crowne Plaza, Kochi, a smartly dressed man in blazers and brogues greeted us with a heart-warming smile. “PVP “the name by which Mr.Potluri is known among his friends and associates, was ready for us a full quarter of an hour before the time scheduled for us. The pace at which he
gets things moving is evident from his track record, he built three companies around the world and sold them for a nest egg by the time he was 35. PVP
returned to India and started Realty, Infrastructure, Financial services, Media and Entertainment divisions.

Extremely candid about his experiences, Mr.Potluri talked about how his first job was at three in the morning, as a janitor. ‘All roads lead to Rome and those days it was the United States of America; that was the dreamland’, confesses PVP. After completing his bachelor’s education, PVP wanted to pursue a graduate program in the US, but his visa application got rejected thrice.
So he went ‘down under’ to Australia to do his masters. From Australia, he got a single entry visa (90 days) to USA, on his seventh attempt. “I landed in the USA on 1st August 1995 with
160 USD in my pocket. I bought into the American dream and in June ’96, with a single desk and chair on lease, I started my fist company called Procon Inc.” In 27 months, Procon Inc had 250 employees. The company was acquired for 32 million dollars in November 1998. PVP was 27 years old then. His second endeavour in the US, was building an e-business solutions fim inorganically and acquired two firms in the US and formed Albion Orion LLC. PVP was one of the fist Indians in the US that pursued M&A in North America and successfully sold that company for 63.65 million dollars in September 2000 to SSI Ltd.

He then set his sights across the Atlantic and moved to London, UK and started a new company called Irevna that pioneered and spawned the KPO space. He began the company in August 2001 and withered the 9/11 crisis and successfully grew to a team of 500 MBA’s, serving the needs of fortune 1000 corporations. In 2005, Prasad sold Irevna to Crisil India, which during
the course of the acquisition became Standard & Poor India. During that time, he had the opportunity to witness the growth potential and the India story exploding into the global arena.

Your early experience…

I would have been in the comfort zone of the many folks from our part of the world. I had a great opportunity to be the early movers in Australia, to understand the Western environment. I also got to understand what a graduate goes through. I went through every blue collar job under the sun. From janitorial duties at three in the morning to pumping gas at the Shell station, it was a great learning experience. It helped me develop a new sense of work ethics and discipline. Guess it’s one of the reasons why I always fil my fuel at Shell, anywhere in the world.

Evolution as an entrepreneur

I always had the inhibition that my educational credentials were not up to the mark. A friend of mine was working for Mackensy at that time and they had set up a knowledge centre in London. I knew the U.S like the back of my hand and I decided to set up our next venture in the U.K. We decided to create a similar offering to investment banks. We put together a team and slowly we developed a team of 500 MBA’s serving the needs of fortune 1000 corporations. We had to overcome the hurdles of 9/11 attacks before revenue stared coming in. That was a great humbling experience; the last decade of my career involved a lot of learning and unlearning. I have stepped on a few landmine, but that’s the evolution that every entrepreneur has to go through.

Coming back to India

As an entrepreneur, you always gravitate towards opportunity, and the writing was on the wall, as far as India was concerned. It was the place to be. I was introduced to an investment opportunity and saw an exciting platform in Karvy Group (Hyderabad) and bought a large stake in it. It was my best investment decision till date which also supported my growth plans in India. The forecasting was bang on spot, but looking back where I underestimated the challenges was the way in which business was done in India. I had never gone to any US government office for any major business need. It was quite a complicated environment to navigate in India, and it took me few months’ years to understand what kind of a juvenile business man I was before India. I have no hesitation saying this out loud, but having said that let me add that we have totally cracked it now and we are managing various kind of business in India. Financial services, real estate, media, entertainment and sports are the areas we are currently focusing on. I am going back to drawing board to start working with startups. Especially, on retail consumption services

Indian Super League

From the U.S, I understood sports as part of entertainment and a part of consumption. Because of India’s demographic dividend, 10 years from now sports will be a contributor to the economy. When I came back IPL (Indian Premier League) had already started, and I had made a bid for Deccan Chargers. When the Indian Badminton League started, bought the Hyderabad Hot Shots and won the inaugural edition. The tennis league was evolving and at that time we spoke to Sachin discussed with him the possibility of developing an organization. Sachin’s heart was into all sports not just cricket and how we are developing football is from the grass root level.

Philanthropy

We have been taking care of quite a few people in badminton, chess…. This is something I learned from America, that one has to give back to the society. God has been so kind to me, He has given me more than what I deserve and there are so many who are not so fortunate. In a small way we have built an undergraduate college in my home town.

Managing Your Team

There are no short cuts, you have to lead by example, be consistent, it’s about your credibility, and you live and die by your word. That’s the only principle I live by and I will continue to do so. That’s how you inspire your colleagues, fist is your integrity, second your work ethics, and three your consistency in terms of your conduct, relationship.

Quickies

Favorite Locations

Saint-Tropez on the French Rivera

Favorite food

Pasta

Personal quirks

I need my blazer even in the middle of the Indian summer

Advice for Future entrepreneurs

One should have tremendous equanimity handling success and failure. Handling and acknowledging failure is another very important thing.

If not an serial entrepreneurs 

I would have been a socialist/activist enjoying giving my time to the society.