Also, remember, if you need any help whether it is with your fundraising efforts or with selling your business, you can reach me at [emailprotected]. What does the future look like for Vistex? You shouldnt necessarily follow somebodys footsteps, but just take inspiration and then chart your own path. When I decided to sever my ties with SAP, my wife was six-months pregnant with our second child. Facebook gives people the power to. Fortunately, I had a view from the inside as well, having been one of the earliest employees of SAP. Theyve been around for many years, a very notable firm in the Valley, and a lot of successes to their name. We were able to get into new industries and even upsell to our existing customers. Founder and President at Vistex, Inc. Hoffman Estates, Illinois . How would you differentiate a private equity profile from the venture capital that perhaps the earlier-stage guys that are listening are probably looking at? Q: You could have built another magnificent property somewhere else. Sanjay Shah: Yeah. What kind of marketing do you need to be able to sell effectively? One is I think I have learned to be a better listener. : Okay. I would like to describe it as a bit chaotic, but a very functional democracy. : You guys were bootstrapping this. The average being 2 1/2. Alejandro: Absolutely, and well talk about your bootstrapping experience in just a bit. I also spent time working for SAP at their headquarters in Germany in R&D for a couple of years of my six-year journey with them. How was the growth of revenue overtime during those years? Maybe I should trust A more than B, so I should do what A said. No. These folks are a part of the fabric of the country. Then to ensure that they continue to receive value as they expand their portfolio of products. You have your supply chain and your factories and you make stuff, and after you've made that stuff, how do you take it to market? SAP was then making a foray into the U.S., into North America. sanjay shah vistex net worth. The whole business paradigm has changed as I described. Then the logical progression was to work in accounting. Till some months ago, few outside the business circles had heard of Chicago entrepreneur Sanjay Shah. Alejandro: So here you are in 1999. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash. We found a great partner in Excel KPR. Sanjay Shah: Initially, for the first year, and a little over a year, it was just me by myself. I think the industry pivoted that way about somewhere between planning on your perspective five to seven years ago, and the entire industry has pivoted toward Software as a Service. Must Read: Roman Rittweger On Starting His Business At 52 And Raising $100 Million To Disrupt The Health Insurance Industry. Yes, he owns a business software company, Vistex Inc ., which is estimated to be approaching $200 million in annual revenue. What were the immediate steps to bring this to life? How Chicago area home values compare by ZIP code, Have camera, will travel: A Chicago taxi driver took pictures of his passengers for years. They try to go after high-potential, high-growth, the mature organizations, and we fit the bill on that front. Thats how I was able to bootstrap. We've always had a few ideas about what we want to do with the space, but we never really started anything in earnest. With all this, the list was small, and we found a great partner who we signed up with. Why? So walk us through the process of how you came up with this idea, and how did you incubate it all the way to fruition? : Really interesting here. Why did you decide to come to the U.S. because I believe it was business school? Our youngest just went off to college last month, we are empty-nesters now so there's motivation to finish it out. : What have I learned about growth? Sanjay Shah, of South Barrington, is the founder and CEO of Vistex, a software company based in Hoffman Estates. Vistex Hoffman Estates IL 60010, United States Get Sanjay's Email (it's Free) Takes 5 seconds to join, no credit card required. We were lucky that in our initial years, our go-to-market partner was SAP, and enterprise software was virtually nascent, and SAP was selling hand over fist. What kind of teams do you need? Alejandro: You scaled this up to 250 million before you accepted external financing, so how was that process? . You shouldnt necessarily follow somebodys footsteps, but just take inspiration and then chart your own path. [Laughter] Be a good listener. And I lasted a full six months and decided that I didnt want to be a professional accountant. But even despite that, there are enough challenges when youre working with an organization the size of SAP. And overnight, they literally go belly-up. : And in terms of enterprise sales, Sanjay, that you were eluding to, what are your biggest takeaways from enterprise sales because its a beast. : Correct. Then we also have professional services to implement our software. : All right, Sanjay. Sanjay Shah: I think the advice I would give to my younger self is, dont follow any advice. His new book is titled Fares, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Earlier on, I thought I knew how everything was supposed to work, and I had the recipe and the solutions to all of the companys problems. So something struck me and I said, Well, I cant do it here. The number of players has increased, and the customers buying skills have increased tremendously. WLS CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago-based entrepreneur Sanjay Shah, founder and CEO of Vistex, Inc., which is based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., purchased the penthouse of Trump International Hotel and. Vistex is the established industry leader with nearly $250 million in revenue in 2018, and despite two recessions, has expanded its operations globally and its portfolio across 14 industries. So I decided to explore. You need a lot of focus and dedication and a lot of persistence. Sanjay Shah: Yes. Perhaps it should be neither, and I should do what Sanjay said would work better. Sanjay Shah: I would love to say that I came up with this fantastic idea, and I had this great vision, and so on, but the reality is that I was a company loyalist. Right after Pricewaterhouse, you went to General Motors. Shah bought the 14,000-square-foot penthouse for $17 million and in 2017 is working to build out the space. Earlier on, I thought I knew how everything was supposed to work, and I had the recipe and the solutions to all of the companys problems. : The future is theres more of everything. Then that gave me the funding I needed to do what I wanted to do. There are so many constituencies both from a product standpoint, from a technology standpoint, and from a go-to-market standpoint. But there was fun in that challenge as well. So accounting runs in our blood. : Sanjay, what is the way that you guys make money with this? Then that gave me the funding I needed to do what I wanted to do. An entrepreneur cant say, Yeah, Im also on a double-duty and be able to sell into the enterprise. Then slowly over the years expanded to other regions of the globe. And I joined in an analyst position, which meant I was able to get close to the shop floor. : Now, you have them as a strategic partner, so obviously, the relationship is there. Chicago filmmaker Jennifer Reeder looks at the awards season nominees so far where did all the women go? Sanjay Shah: Correct. Have you completed it? Denmark's tax authority has won its appeal in the UK courts over an alleged 1.5 billion ($2 billion) fraud by Dubai hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah and scores of others. Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More. Fast-forward to today. When we say we listen, listening not just to our employees who are the closest to our customers and have the best product ideas, but also to our customers. So quite an accomplishment. I think sometimes, even when entrepreneurs reach a certain level of success, they feel that theyve mastered their domain, or they know what they need to do. If you engineer good products and show value, then customers will come your way. Person A said I should do this, and Person B said I should do this. Sanjay brings a high level of passion, energy and skills to address complex business processes for global organizations. : Its interesting. 2458 Likes 111 Comments - University of South Carolina uofsc on. Sanjay Shah: Its interesting. Enterprise sales require a lot of persistence and a lot of fortitude to stay in the race for the longer term. Alejandro: And in terms of enterprise sales, Sanjay, that you were eluding to, what are your biggest takeaways from enterprise sales because its a beast. What were the immediate steps to bring this to life? We go in as explorers, not as conquerors because we know that the right kind of input is very critical to the engineering of a product. : Of course, at General Motors, we were one of the first companies to use whats called MRP, material requirements planning. : What were some of the key ingredients that you were looking for in a partner? My advice is, dont follow any advice. They want to outsource everything and just consume a service. Sanjay Shah: What have I learned about growth? I think weve just begun to scratch the surface of how our products and solutions can help customers and help our customers succeed even more. : You brought this up to 250 million in revenue without taking any type of investors. Alejandro: Very cool. Vistex.com specialises in information technology and services, computer software. How was life there? Sanjay, thank you so much for being on the DealMakers show today. Thats when I decided to expand the hiring for the organization. Especially, the larger the organization that you sell to, the more durable and the more persistent you need to be. In my early days, I used to be confused. I think Im a good listener over the years. I believe that if you engineer great product, and then dovetail or piggyback on top of a huge, successful go-to-market organization like SAP has globally, then that would be the recipe for success. I think private equity can offer a lot of operational expertise and a lot of go-to-market expertise. That has been the biggest bump. We provide the technology that helps customers take their products and services to the marketplace. We didnt have any salespeople on board, so we were engineers doing all of the selling ourselves. Sanjay Shah is a tech entrepreneur, Founder, CEO & Chief Architect of Vistex, making sure it all adds up for our customers. Then the logical progression was to work in accounting. Those are the revenue streams for us. Shah's $5 million gift will name the new Vistex Institute for Executive Learning and Research. Alejandro: Sanjay, what is the way that you guys make money with this? A: Again, politics is not something that I Iike to talk about too much, but this property is still one of the best in the city and I continue to believe that. What did you experience? A dark tale about the nature of stories themselves. I got an MBA in finance. (Kejriwal's basic salary is Rs 32500. The buildings were constructed and remain owned by a Turkish company, but Trump licensed his name to the project and continues to derive significant revenue from fees for the use if his name. Fortunately, I had a view from the inside as well, having been one of the earliest employees of SAP. Sanjay Shah: We have three distinct revenue streams. Then to ensure that they continue to receive value as they expand their portfolio of products. Alejandro: So originally, Sanjay, you were born in Mumbai, India. Sanjay Shah: Correct. And you need professional sales help. In many instances, its like a 24-month sales cycle. So lets continue. We go in as explorers, not as conquerors because we know that the right kind of input is very critical to the engineering of a product. Especially, the larger the organization that you sell to, the more durable and the more persistent you need to be. I was able to sell my services and sell my time. We were able to land a couple of accounts in the year 2001. We kicked things off about a month ago. They used to call it Platinum Consulting, where we go and help troubled SAP projects across the globe. Under Sanjay's leadership, Vistex has grown into a global organization dedicated to transforming how businesses across multiple industries bring their products and services to market by taking control of mission-critical processes. : Yes. : Correct. Alejandro: All right, Sanjay. How would you differentiate a private equity profile from the venture capital that perhaps the earlier-stage guys that are listening are probably looking at? When the leadership tea. A free inside look at Vistex salary trends based on 203 salaries wages for 130 jobs at Vistex. So I ended up taking a job at Pricewaterhouse as a staff auditor right after I graduated from grad school. A: Yes, but Chicago is my favorite city in the world and it will always be. So our focus is, how can we help our customers succeed even more with our products and offerings? : Yeah. There are so many different stakeholders. We dont have venture funding or angel funding to go launch ourselves in a big fashion to let the world know that were out there. Sanjay Shah Friday June 3 2022 Edit Shah charged that its steering is in the hands of AIMIM leader Asaduddin. Then thats how we came to learn of SAP. : So, she was a little consumed. : It got me a chance to be on the shop floor and to see how things are built and put together. You know, sometimes you discover your true passion, and you don't always realize it and recognize it, but something hits you when it does happen. You spend time in classrooms learning about things, but spending time on the shop floor learning how actually products are put together, how they are transported, how the logistics work in terms of the distribution networks of large companies. Sanjay Shah: Thats a good question. Sanjay Shah: What have I learned about myself? The idea was to write the software to address some functions that were not adequately addressed in ERP Systems. Sanjay Shah is a former Kenyan national. Customers are getting smarter, especially in enterprise software, which is where we play. Everybodys journey is unique, and everybodys circumstances are unique. Alejandro: So for the people that are listening . Sanjay. About. We were able to get into new industries and even upsell to our existing customers. Walk us through some of those days. So I was introduced to software quite early on. Shah, a naturalized U.S. citizen, also has spoken out in defense of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in part because a handful of his employees are immigrants living in the country illegally who were brought here as children and rely on DACA protections to remain in the U.S. There are so many different stakeholders. We have a relatively flat organization. Sanjay has been instrumental in creating an entirely new category of business software called "Go-to-Market" programs and has charted a visionary path for Vistex that transcends the "business as usual" mindset. Would you mind expanding a bit more on that, Sanjay? : Thats a good question. Who are you going to accept (as customers)? That helped definitely. I said to myself, If I work the first shift selling my services, then Ill be able to use that funding to develop what I need to develop on the second and third shift. Sanjay Shah: Thats right. So without further ado, Id like to welcome our guest today to the show. Theres always some business to be had with on-prem software, but were also getting more aggressive and investing heavily to grow our business in the Cloud as they say; to sell our software as a subscription. Alejandro: Wow! Denmark, which is trying to recoup some 12.7 billion krone ($2 billion), or close to 1% of its gross domestic product, says the entire enterprise was a charade. Dipen Shah Rajesh Chaganti #Vistex #SAP #Agro Liked by Dipen Shah https://lnkd.in/d4m_Ui2N Very proud of my wife Gayatri Raman, helping take Clearwater Analytics public. I was enamored with him and was like, I wonder where he went to school? Alejandro: Then, all of a sudden, the idea of perhaps starting your own business starts to become more tangible and have more color. These are not quick sales. How do you guys monetize? What were some of your biggest takeaways because now, you have your own company, but I think that being able to work with such a massive player and understanding the dynamics and how they worked, Im sure that many of those lessons youve applied to how youve built and scale your own business. : Very cool. Lets just say that. I look forward to seeing the final product. Thats something that I believe has sold people as well that I always wake up every day worrying about what is it that I need to learn more, and not bask in the success of what I have learned and what Ive achieved. Per month for his designation as The Chief Minister of Delhi. Sanjay Shah, founder and CEO of Vistex, is photographed Dec. 8, 2014 in the penthouse atop the Trump International Hotel and Tower he owns. Today, we have someone that has done something remarkable, which is bootstrapping from nothing to 250 million. Shah discusses the American Dream, entrepreneurship, bootstrapping, adapting to . I didnt want to give up much equity. Alejandro: How big was the business when you joined them? He funnelled his wealth into property across London, Hong Kong, Dubai and Tokyo, Shah said, amassing a portfolio that he put at about 70 million pounds. Sanjay Shah: We have a very demographic process. We are trying to develop what I call a hybrid model. Theyre very skilled these days in terms of how they decide what to buy. : I think in 2001, I was able to land our first customers. Enterprise sales require a lot of persistence and a lot of fortitude to stay in the race for the longer term. The Vistex Foundation is a private foundation launched in 2012 through the support of Sanjay Shah, the founder of Vistex, Inc. We are committed to addressing the root causes of poverty by partnering with organizations whose programs provide education and health services to communities in need. So then what happens after you make the decision. It was the appetite for companies to spend on enterprise software, which took a nosedive in 2001, 2002 was the first challenge. That helped definitely. They might not have been born here, but they were raised here and they are very productive. It's very unique, not just in Chicago or in the U.S., but probably unique in the whole world in terms of how it's laid out. An entrepreneur cant say, Yeah, Im also on a double-duty and be able to sell into the enterprise. Sanjay's Email. An Indian immigrant, Sanjay Shah bootstrap story began when he left Mumbai, India to attend Lehigh Universitys business school, earning his MBA in 1989 at the age of 21. Its also massively matrixed. I think getting the firsthand experience was critical. That was a very marketable resource. Thats quite a significant amount of employees. Shah noted that only a handful of SAP's 20,000 partners achieve Solution Extensions status. Tell us, after this presentation then you speak with your wife or with your family, and you still have to think about the idea of going at it. Sanjay Shah: Our first challenge was when the dotcom crash came up. If you want me to help you with your fundraising, just book a call. Sanjay Shah Founder, CEO, & Chief Architect at Vistex, Inc. Barrington Hills, Illinois, United States 500 followers 500+ connections Join to connect Vistex, Inc. Company Website Activity In. : Of course. : Its a massive organization. And in general, when youre bootstrapped, youre going to be very stingy with your marketing budgets and your sales budgets. Shah, 49, Vistex's founder and CEO, recently gave $5 million to his business school alma mater, Lehigh University's College of Business and Economics, with the goal, he said, of helping it better compete with other top business schools. When you continue to deliver value for your customers, then they see it. Dubai: Dubai Police arrested Sanjay Shah, the main suspect in the biggest tax fraud and money laundering case in Denmark. Sanjay Shah On Going From Zero To $250 Million In Revenue Without Taking Any Outside Investment. We license our software. Exactly, especially if you intend to bootstrap, I think you have to have a good accounting streak in you. What was the next thing that youve learned? Q: What about the point of view that many undocumented workers are doing the work no one else will do in this country? Thats what explains our existence and our success. Youve been with SAP for six years. Alejandro: Yeah. I wanted to give up a very small portion of it while drawing on their expertise. If you like the show, make sure that you hit that subscribe button. Absolutely, and everybodys circumstances are unique those years have professional services to the marketplace are looking... Had heard of Chicago entrepreneur sanjay Shah: we have a very demographic process think Im good. Was enamored with him and was like, I was able to our... And well talk about your bootstrapping experience in just a bit chaotic, but were. In you all this, and from a product standpoint, from a go-to-market standpoint book is titled Fares do... Accepted external financing, so obviously, the more durable and the more durable and more... 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