Company launch

As previously mentioned (in a prior post), this summer there are no classes. Rather we will be busy in a consulting project for an international company. Our team of 5, has been assigned to a Finland based company, looking to expand operations into China.

This past weekend, we had our company launch event at school where the CEOs, CTOs and other execs of 52 companies from around the world came to the campus and met with us. We spent two full days interacting with our own company execs trying to understand their product, company and goals from the project. Based on prior secondary research on the industry that our team had already done, we capped off the two day event with a 25 minute presentation and Q&A session. All went quite well and the execs, advisors and other observers were quite pleased with our performance.

That evening we took our execs to a fine dining restaurant. Oh what an experience. :) Other than the standard white table and stuff, we had 2 dedicated waiters for our table. Glancing through the wine menu, noticed that the cheapest wine bottle was $50 (max was $500+... could be higher - I just stopped looking at that point). Menu was fixed as in FIXED. No alterations allowed at all (I wanted them to make me a veggie dish but was told bluntly that there are 2 options in the menu and that is all they are willing to do). Soft music, nice company and good food... the overall experience was very nice. The execs appreciated our gesture very much with the COO inviting us to come over to Finland (even said we could stay at his house) :) Very touching. The restaurant was located right on the Santa Monica beach and a post-dinner stroll on the beach front was the perfect ending to the great 2 days we spent in school.

Now the action will really heat up over the next few months. Travel plans are being finalized. More soon on those...

$$$

I am sure the subject got your attention. :) Well, positive news to start off this post. A significant part of my job is sales enablement i.e. help the account teams go out and win business deals (highly competitive deals). Without disclosing any of the confidential information, I am happy to announce I successfully helped bring in my first million dollar deal. yay!!! Here's hoping to and working toward winning more such and bigger deals for my company. :)

vegas

Flew out to vegas on Friday night - just me and the missus. In-laws watched the kids (it was difficult to leave the kids home since they so wanted to come with us) but I guess after 8 years of parenting, we felt we deserved a break for ourselves. :) Anyway, decided to splurge a little. Stayed at a 5 star resort (Venetian) and partied like anything. Night club, shows, gambling, good food.... the works. Very enjoyable but short trip. Flew back to home Sunday afternoon.

The same afternoon, went with a friend to a live concert by the legendary Ghulam Ali. He started singing in 1960 and still going strong. The amazing depth and variation in his voice, his energy levels and the quality of singing.... mind blowing. I felt fortunate to be there listening to him live.

Overall nice break. School wise summer/fall madness about to begin. This weekend we have the company launch where we get to spend face time with our company execs and chalk out business strategies. Good times ahead... :)

exciting weekend ahead

Sometimes things are meant to happen. I am an ardent fan of Ghulam Ali. As a kid I used to hear people praise him (one Mr. Oswal in particular). As I grew older, I had the opportunity to hear his ghazals and really liked them. But I never got a chance to listen to him live.

A couple of days ago, I was driving to work and briefly flicked through the desi radio channel. Right then an ad was being aired that Ghulam Ali coming for a show near our hometown. Talk about timing.... I pinged a friend and we are on... going to his show this weekend to listen to him. :)

The other wish I have is to listen to Ravi Shankar perform at Villa Montalvo... That would be an awesome concert... one day hopefully.

Life ...

... goes on. It's been quite a while since my last post. I have moved into Product Management within my current company. Amazing that a completely different culture exists here. The good thing is I am getting to lear a lot and so far it has been good fun. Lot more at stake in this job, small mistakes can be costly, let's see what the rewards will look like. :)
School coming along ok. Took extra 4 units as a block elective in order to speed up things. Very hectic 5 days. Now the GAP project starts. My company is in Finland and they want my team to analyze and recommend a market entry into China. Promising to be a very hectic but fun 6 months ahead. Will be meeting the company execs in late july (LA) and travel to Europe in Aug/September time frame.
Introducing the game of Golf to Nalin. He has a putter of his own now and planning to buy an iron also for him. He seems to be enjoying it. Bought a groupon for Horseback riding lessons for the kids. Summer is here and so much to do...but so little time. :(