Bhatnagar taught me to leave real value for the buyer: Jitendra Gupta, MD, PayU India

During the formative years of Citrus Pay (which PayU bought in September), Mohit Bhatnagar (MD, Sequoia India) really helped hone the business. Mohit is known for asking tough questions on revenues, unit economics, etc. I was often frustrated and wondered why I was being asked about unit economics in the first year itself. Now, when I look back, our series-A funding of $1.8 million from Sequoia lasted us over two years and that was only because Mohit insisted that we follow unit economics and maintain that discipline. Even when we were planning our budgets, especially on marketing, he would ask, "why spend on marketing if it does not fetch you additional revenue in terms of profitability?"

When the Citrus Pay and PayU deal was being negotiated, we were trying hard to optimise for value. That’s when Mohit came into the picture and said: "Jitendra, don’t try to optimise for value. Only then will you leave some value for the buyer and that will make the deal a win-win for both parties. If you try to optimise until the last dollar, and if things don’t work out, then it won’t be rosy for you." I am glad I took that advice because optimising 10% of the deal value is not what matters in the long run. It is sometimes okay to leave the value on the table.