Going forward, we will have more partners cut across fund classes. We are already in discussions with Mr. D who will be the first partner to take up multiple investment funds initiative.” This was the statement made at the Annual meeting of the Texas Pacific Group sometime in June 2005. Little did any one know Mr. D’s identity.

On the other side of the globle, Mr D had already informed the human resources head about his decision to move on. “There is a certain sense of restlessness that has seized me lately. I am evaluating to do something else.”

On June 29, the world got to know Mr D—Vivek Paul, President and CEO of Bangalore-based Wipro Technologies and Vice Chairman of Wipro Limited. He announced his plans of joining the private-equity powerhouse TPG as a Partner.

Under his watch as CEO of Wipro’s key global IT, product engineering, and business process services unit, revenue grew from less than $150 million in1999 to more than $1.4 billion in 2004.

During his tenure, the global services segment’s operating profit grew at a rate of more than 35 percent a year. Such growth record allowed him to become the highest-paid executive in corporate India. Paul’s salary and allowances amounted last year to $459,999
and $1,185,638 in commissions.

For a young-highest-paid executive to quit at the peak of his career is something unusual. Paul felt that Wipro had achieved most of the goals it set out to achieve when he joined in 1999. Among tech firms, Wipro is ranked in the top 10 in brand, net income, and market cap. “I had to figure out whether to re-up for the next vision or do something different,” he said. Something different it will be.

“This is how I look at my life,” explains Paul, “I became CEO in 1993. Now it is 2005. For 12 long years I have donned the CEO role—first at GE Medical Systems and then at Wipro Technologies. Do I want to keep doing the same stuff or do something of a different nature? I am relatively young. I am 46. I have 20 more years of working life. Will playing the same game excite me?”

In the tech world, Paul had watched Ray Lane make a move from Oracle to Kleiner Perkins. He had also seen many top executives of GE including Jack Welch join the venture or private equity world. Paul knew that getting into the venture business would not only exercise a different brain muscle of his but also enable him to spread his wings across verticals and geographies. “I’d like to be able to see myself usher in some great corporate success in the world, thanks to being both an early investor and adviser in terms of various companies’ growth rates,” he notes.

Growing in a different direction not only excites Paul but he also believes he can add value.

Most funds in the U.S don’t have strong exposure to both Venture Capital and Private Equity world. What excited Paul about the new opportunity is that TPG gave him the flexibility to have his foot in both venture and private equity space. “If you look at the venture side, there are a lot of ideas that come up that will reshape the Limited Partnership Offering (LPO). The new technologies that startups work on will give us better view of what the future looks. This will in turn show up in the deals we do on the private equity side,” says Paul.

Like wise, Paul believes when he chooses to invest in a startup, say which is looking for round 3 funding, TPG will not only own a piece of the business but will also provide access to other TPG portfolio companies. “This way you will have a venture capital proposition that is substantially superior,” says Paul.

Indian guy?
Though Paul will be responsible for tapping into opportunities across the world, given his background he will play an active role in India. “When you look at the next ten years some of the best investment opportunities are going to be in India. I can leverage my Indian knowledge and capabilities to guide a piece of that.”

But he’s quick to add, “I’m not going to be the India guy at TPG.” Obviously, he has connections in India. And he’ll work on deals for Newbridge Capital, TPG’s Asian affiliate. Paul has plenty of ideas about private equity investing in India. “More and more Indian companies are going global,” he says. “So we can provide the expansion capital. Second, as the domestic Indian economy continues to grow, there are opportunities in retail, financial, anything that serves the burgeoning middle class.”

TPG already has its own Indian connections. The firm recently invested in the Hyderabad based Matrix Laboratories, that provides outsourced clinical and laboratory services to pharmaceutical companies.

Unlearning
As Paul makes the transition form the operation world of IT services to investment business, he knows that it is no more about monthly or quarterly reports. The investment world has different measurement parameters—whether a particular deal yielded result (measured over long-term). “It is a life without inbox or calendar,” jokes Paul.

Well, he may not be receiving as many mails in his inbox or daily reports from executives across geographies. But he will keep his eyes and ears open to find those black swans—to grab rare opportunities wherever possible.

That isn’t going to be easy. Paul’s underlying philosophy so far as he steered Wipro to the billion-dollar mark has been—Get Going! However, in the investment world he knows that he shouldn’t rush. In his own words, “In the investing world, things of mission are smaller than things of commission. You don’t want to end up in bad deal. You are better off waiting for the good deal. I am not here to do the first deal in my first week,” he says.

As Paul tries to get away from the transactional world, he is adopting himself to a rhythm wherein he is aware of all the deals in the market, which will help him grab the best opportunity. So he is no more sailing on transient waves. He is practising his techniques to surf the big waves. “I remember a game that children like to play, finding pictures of things hidden within pictures. If you look at the surface it looks like random.

By close observation you can see the real picture. Something that was there all along becomes evident—some pattern emerges. This [investing world] game is all about finding that real picture,” says Paul.

In a couple of weeks from now Paul will begin his hunt for deals in the infotech and life sciences industry—not only in the Valley but also in Asia.