An Angel with a Passion

He seems a typical product of the New Economy! A college dropout making news and millions!

But, there's more to Hyderabad-born Mahesh Murthy than just his dropping out of Chemical Technology at Osmania Unviersity to become the founder and chief of a leading angel investment firm, Passionfund.

For instance, six award-winning years in direct sales and advertising. Then a shift to Hong Kong for launching of MTV campaign in the region, that fetched him a Cannes for the Best Young Director.

Soon, a move to consultancy at a Silicon Valley-based Internet marketing consultancy CKS Partners (later renamed MarchFirst) as Creative Director and General Manager, helping launch and market top online brands such as Yahoo! in 1995, Amazon.com in 1996 and MSN in 1997, followed by a stint with e-commerce software startup in Seattle, iCat, as VP Marketing.

Later, a return to India in 1999 as Channel [V] country head, repositioning the channel and launching of vIndia.com, then setting up of Passionfund in Mumbai.

But, the buck doesn't stop here. When not advising the 14-odd start ups that he is incubating, the 35 years old chairperson of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Angel Forum is skiing in the Auli snowcapped mountains, or quizzing at YMCA back home, or jetting around the world on work or play.

Or, when not addressing IT conferences (which included the Internet World in Chicago, CNet's Annual Technoloy Conference, TiEcon, Nasscom, Comdex), Murthy could be listening to anything from Santana to Suprabatham, collecting watches, changing palm pilots or trying new MP3 players.

A product of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Picket, Murthy does not have a typical technology background. But, he is an ardent evangelist of building global technology companies out of India and believes India's IT future does not lie in software services.

A radical view not surprisingly coming from somebody who's had a radical career path. For the past one year, Murthy has been concentrating on the companies he's funded: 14 Internet and technology enabled companies, including 4 in the US and 10 in India, including Securesoft, iVast, Indiaproperties, Webdunia, EasyBuyMusic, and Infobahn.

Though currently operating out of Mumbai, Murthy likes keeping close ties with Hyderabad, where his parents live, making sure he can visit on a weekend to catch up with his quizzing buddies at K-Circle, where he's been a member for over 20 years.

Ever since he was 15, Fridays at 6 pm at YMCA used to be a "religion" for him. "Quizzing has not just been fun, it's been great professionally. It made me a better copywriter, and a better strategist. When you do it often enough, you get exposed to so much more literature and culture, the world is no longer an unknown place," he says.

Even otherwise the world is not an unknown place, thanks to his passion for travel. "I have a scoreboard in my mind; been to 20 countries - 180 more to go. Been to virtually every state in India, not all the Union Territories though," Murthy says. Cambodia, Macau, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Indonesia, the national parks in the US, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Kerala and Goa have been the most memorable.

"Sometimes my only regret is that the Indian passport I have doesn't get me entry into other countries as easily as if I'd had a different passport. In my lifetime, I'd love to see this passport welcomed all over the world and all visa restrictions lifted," he dreams.

More than money, time is what he needs for this passion, he rues. He is trying to move from working 50 weeks a year and taking 2 weeks off, to earning the same amount of money, but working for 26 weeks and taking 26 off.

"I don't think I'm too far away from that - though my wife (ex-advertising writer Manisha Lakhe) might disagree -- she thinks I'm a workaholic. She may be right: I've tried retiring twice and have failed both times!" he adds.

Yet another passion is skiing, something he does on every trip to the US. "I'm a downhill skier with, frankly, more recklessness than skill. Have broken a couple of bones and had surgery to show for it. I think there's nothing more fun than getting to the top of a hill, pointing down, and then letting Isaac Newton do his job. I'm not what they call an advanced skier though - no aerial twists and jumps for me, yet. I tried snowboarding too - but prefer skiing," he adds.

And, having been with two music channels, it's not surprising Murthy is into music: "I'm an omnivore. Depending on the mood I'm in, I could be listening to the Suprabhatam, Santana, Springsteen or Strauss. But, I do keep an ear out for women singers and east-west fusion."

The collection of 1,200 CDs, six-foot speakers and big fat amp is "cause of much strife at home," Murthy claims. His wife apparently maintains that the living room looks like a music shop. "My point is, it does, so what," he adds.

Reading is another passion. "I'll read anything. I've developed my own version of channel-surfing where I have five to six books or magazines that I will read in some parallel order depending on what I feel like picking up at the time. Americans may have a phrase for it- Attention Deficit Disorder- but then they have a phrase for everything," he contends.

And of course, gadgets and watches: "It's a guy thing. I know that. But, still can't resist it," he says. He's apparently owned every version of Palm Pilots and currently owns the Visor Prism, has been through three laptops, all kinds of software. "I'm the kind of fool marketers tag as "idiot early adopter."

"Mobile phones? Gone through three. MP3 players? Check. Wireless home networking? Yes. Satellite radio? Yes. And watches. I'm a sucker for odd designs: not really into big designer names: more into weird functionality - and different looks. Why do I need a watch with a tide table? Because. Or one with an altimeter going to 29,000 feet? Just. One without an hour hand? Because."

And when not supporting the entire gadget industry which he says thrives due to people like him, Murthy says he is geekily surfing the Net into the nights.

"I have to figure out a way to spend less time online and get more sleep," comes on the top rung of his wish list.

Besides, he'd like to make a movie. "A comedy for what I'd call the intelligent urban Indian. Travel some more, to Scandinavia and South America. Trek some more especially in Garhwal."

Murthy also wants to teach his three year old son Agni, whom he describes as the most difficult startup he's ever had to manage, to ski.

Also, "fly a microlight, darn it, own one if I can get Manisha to agree. And have somebody wake me up three years from now and say 'Hey, a couple of those companies you angel-funded and advised have changed the world."