As part of our endeavour to identify and share with our community some of the compelling startup stories from the ecosystem, we interviewed yet another promising entrepreneur and thought leader, Srinivasan V Swamy – Founder at CFO Bridge Services. He spent over 24 years at senior and executive-level roles with corporate majors like Bharti Axa, ICICI Prudential, Aegon Life, Acko and GOQii to name a few. Let’s read more about his exciting journey, lessons and advice!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Srinivasan:
Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey, please;
I’m a Chartered Accountant. I’m very passionate about accounts and finance. I started my career in 1989, worked for about 24 years in large corporates and in the last few years as a CFO. I have worked with very reputed boards and in 2012 I decided to give up a fancy corporate job to refresh my career and give it a new beginning in the form and name of CFO Bridge.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over job?
I wouldn’t quote this as entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship has a lot to do with achieving one’s own goals. What we do here at CFO Bridge is to pool fine resources and bring in our expertise in Finance to help the clients in breaking their barriers and help them grow and achieve their goals. It’s a client-centric model and that very well serves our goal to use our in-house talent for our patrons.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
The niche we belong to is already a futuristic segment not completely delved into. This gives us immense opportunities to explore and utilize. Our work is more about giving structure to the unstructured. The future is all about meaningful collaboration. We bring in really senior finance talent to come together and bring in the best for our clients. The future is going to be a look-alike of this model and we are more than glad about being the pioneers of it.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what is your source of motivation?
My motivation is from solving the client’s problems. More often it’s about the complexity of the problems that are served to you. A satisfied client is my driving force. It is our motto to simplify the most complex issues presented to us and foster client goals. The volatility of the work also adds to the fun element. Being able to resolve a cash flow issue in the morning to work on cost reduction assignment in the afternoon to analyze the key drivers of a particular business in the evening is all about a cherry on the icing.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
The biggest challenge comes in the form of diversity we deal with. Providing a tool specific to a certain segment is not only essential but also helps to breed results client wishes for. Aligning a structure to any organization builds its core strength to sustain longer and healthier. This feeds for a better decision-making tool. CFO Bridge has got a very unique and proprietary way of creating a concrete structure for its clients.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
My core values are engraved in stone. I have always chosen emotions over money. I live by the saying of Oprah Winfrey that we should aim at delivering the best and keeping our customers first and money is going to be a byproduct. We are essentially a people-focused industry made up with our staff, partners and clients. The service industry is all about people and I completely second the idea of building meaningful relationships.
How do you handle pressure/ manage stress?
My principle on stress is that it does not originate from the volume of work we do. It is often a byproduct of deviation from the output we wish to achieve.
My stress busters are yoga and a long walk.
What is that one strategy which you believe has helped you grow as a person?
Personal time is important to help an individual evolve. Reflection and private time are the best mixes for growth. I indulge in a lot of meaningful reading and subscribe to plenty of worthy publications. Indulging in fruitful evolvement is the only way to succeed and progress.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Being a Finance person, I place key importance on the fundamental accounting principle of consistency. As professionals and despite being in dynamic situations, I believe it is important to live by that principle. Also, in our industry succeeding is often synonymous to client satisfaction for which we need to deliver, constant and consistent.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Stay tuned, stay consistent, stay motivated. I believe that if you strive consistently to achieve what you want and do not give up, the universe conspires to deliver you that. Persistent hard work is the key to Startups.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, Stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
