SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome everyone to Beyond the Case, a podcast where global leaders from Harvard Business School's OPM community join in a personal capacity and they share the life lessons, models that go behind building enduring companies. Today's guest is Sumit Sood. He's from OPM67 from my cohort. Summit, thanks for making the time. It's a pleasure to have you here. Thank you, Zohin, for having me. And great to see you, man. Great to see you as well. Do you want to just introduce yourself and talk about what business you run? Introduce it for the listeners as well. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

So I am running Midhills, which is basically a pine derivatives company. My father used to be a forest contractor, so he would have a lot of people going in the forest and extract resin from the pine trees. Me and my brother, we started this company in 2010 and we set up a small distillation unit. I was still working as a software sales guy at that time, but parallelly I started this business. And we've been running this firm for the last 15 years. I left my software job in 2022 when I turned 40 and decided to get into this business full-time. So as of now, I run Midhills, which is one of the largest fine derivatives companies in India. And I am also part of a small startup. It's called FarmEasy. And essentially, it's a it's a platform which connects landowners to farmers to agri-service providers. And the whole essence of that platform is to get more food on the table, to promote agriculture, new ways of doing agriculture. And one of the most important things which we are trying to achieve is trying to help absentee farmers. People like me. I have land back home in India, but I live in Dubai. So there's nobody to take care of my land. So, you know, and there are a lot of people like me who have land but don't know what to do with the land. So essentially, this platform is trying to connect people and grow more food.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Great, very noble idea. Is that how you got the idea for this business through your own personal situation where you own land but you're not making use of it?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, exactly. So my me and my uh ex-colleague in my in my software company. So we both were based in Dubai. And he comes from Kerala. I come from Himachal and he has he had some land and he was running a kayak school. So he was very passionate about kayaking and coffee. And I come from Himachal. I had some land. My father was doing a little bit of Apple, Kiwi, etc. But we had a lot of land. I bought as as as I as I started to make some money. I started to buy land back in and you know when you move to Dubai, typically you want to buy land in India for security, etc. etc. So I did the same, but then figured out I have nothing to do with that land. So the whole idea here was why don't we come up with a platform? Well, you started Midhills about 16 years ago, 15 or 16 years ago. My brother, so I'll give you a little bit of background. So my brother joined the business in 2010 and he started the he started the distillation unit. My father was already doing extraction uh from the pine trees and he was selling the produce to to the local market. My brother completed engineering and then he moved and he set up the distillation unit. I was always involved, but not fully. I was like, I would I would encourage them, I would tell them, okay guys, let's why don't we take the plunge and set up this. So we set up a small distillation unit and we were doing okay, but at a very small scale. Because both my brother and my father, they they were they they were happy in their own little world. And then whenever I would tell my parents or my mother that I want to come back, join the business, my mom would say, No, no, no, you you should stay out of this business because you are living, you will end up living in a in a well. So so her analogy was that your father, your brother, they're living it like a you know, like a toad in a or a frog in a in a small well. And they keep on jumping in the small well, and you should, you because I was out, I've been always out from my house for the last 25 years. So go take exposure, meet people, do well in your job, etc. etc. And I did pretty well in my software career. So I used to run the sales for Advent, which is one of the largest fund admin, fund accounting platform in the world. So I would run the Middle East and the India region for them. So, but in 2022, I turned 40 and I decided let's take the plunge. It was very frightening for me, you know, because salary is is like an like a like an injection of whatever drug you you might might want to call. And giving that up is difficult. And especially when you're doing okay. And at 40, I had a wife, I had kids. So it's a very difficult decision to make. But I took the plunge and I am very happy. I should have done it before, but like they say, things happen when the time is right. So that's my story.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Are there any skills you developed as the sales leader which are coming in handy today now that you're an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Exactly. That's a great question. And actually, the one lesson which I learned in my sales career was people buy from people. My boss always used to tell me, Sumith, people buy from people, and what is the consequence of no action? So those are the two questions he said. Whenever you're going for a pitch, whenever you're going for a sale, you should have the answers for these two. And the third one, which also we learned in Howard is the hero, like who's your champion? So in our in our world, when you sell software, there is there has to be a champion, somebody who has who will look good in front of the peers or whoever will make the decision on the other side. So people buy from people is is and it resonates me. It it my father used to tell me, not directly, but indirectly, like it's all relationship-based. It's like once you once you have a rapport with someone, once you once you know the guy, his pain points, etc., it's much easier to sell or or solve this solve the the issue at hand. And you're not selling just a software, you're selling a solution. So that was one of the learnings. The second learning was always find your champion in in an organization. So when I joined my business, we were never we were selling to small traders, small-time traders within India, and we never thought of exporting anything outside of Himachal because I come from a very, very small state and a very, very small place, and to set up a plant there and then try to export, it's it's it's unheard. So I joined, I I started talking to people, I made a pitch book, a presentation, we never had all that tools at hand. So whatever I I kind of used to do for my software selling, I would do the same, I applied the same principles for selling the chemicals. So when I left my company in 2022, the company was very good. SSNC had when they said you can continue working for another six months. And being a sales guy, also they were like, okay, they they I had I left at a very good term. So in one hand, I would have some samples of my product when I used to go to Bahrain or Qatar or wherever, and I would have my demo and my software stuff with me. So that's how I started giving my samples, etc., to people and getting meetings. So and now we are exporting to 20 plus countries. I am approved in all the major MNCs in India. So if you talk about Asian Paints, Piddy Lite, Berger, Neroc, whatever, all these big companies, they're my customers. We are also I've tied up with international players, so we are expanding our global reach. So all that is is purely possible because I have I had a previous life. I was doing sales, so I I've learned a lot uh during my 15 years of corporate career, and now we are trying to institutionalize that in our small family business. So I I'll tell you, look, running a business, you know it's hard. But running a manufacturing business, that too in Himachal, that too in Solan, where logistics is a problem, I can't even get a big container or a big tanker to my factory. Because the roads are not so big. So, but we have to export, import, and do the kind of volume we are doing, it's it's tough. But what works for us is the story, because my story is very straight. For first, my personal story of like my journey from Solar and then going out and then coming back. But the the pine story, because my father started as a forest contractor, we had our own plantations, and then we started doing step one, step two, step three processing. So it's like the analogy which I like to give is we are in the milk business. So my father has some cows, and we had a little bit of land, we started growing grass or or uh the food, and then we started making curd, flavored yogurt, ice cream, blah blah blah. So now our our our plant is fully integrated vertically, and as and when we see the demand, we add additional products because now we have the client base and we have the raw material.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Am I making sense? Yeah, you are. When you joined the business and you know you joined it full-time much later than your father and your brother. Um, did you face any pushback in terms of the ideas you were bringing? Maybe feeling that you have a learning curve still to be completely integrated with your knowledge base of the practices that are currently going on at the business and the way you perceive the business as a so-called outsider back there.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

A lot. I had a pretty tough time. I still have a pretty tough time because I used to sell, I'm a sales guy. I would sell without looking at the margin at at at because I I no, then let me just re-qualify my statement. So I would because I I I knew that I have to be into a long long-term brand and I have to I have to get associated with bigger companies, I would forego the margin but get a foot in the door. So I would go talk to a big MNC and I say, okay, I will, I, I, I want to work with you. This is my story, this is our company, blah, blah, blah. And I'm and we are willing to support you with the pricing. And obviously, companies would expect, as an integrated manufacturer, better pricing, better quality from us. So I would, I would, I would go and make a deal, and then I would have to have a lot of criticism, a lot of resistance internally that the economics are not working out. You are you've managed to get this deal, okay, good, but this is not profitable. Because they were used to a certain way of doing business, they were used to a certain percentage, and they were very happy. Now, in hindsight, now we we this is our first crisis. When I'm in the business, my brother is in and we are in this together. And the the companies which we managed to crack in the first year are the same companies which are now buying at a better rate because those are the bigger organizations, they can absorb the shocks better than a smaller trader because all these smaller companies or smaller traders, with all the uncertainty, the rupee rising to or the dollar rising to 98, 97 rupees now. There's a there's a lot of commotion in the small-time companies or traders, but the bigger companies are able to absorb the shock much better. Hence, we are able to sell more. Our production is not getting impacted at all at this stage. Actually, we are booked till October.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Good. Um Did you create any playbooks for sales to bigger companies, given your background in sales, or was it more so um a gut feeling that you'd have when you'd lead a sales meeting?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

No, I I would there's no gut feel like sorry, there is a gut feeling that okay. Like, look, in in my trade, what kind of worked for me is this is not a glamorous business. Not many people know about it, not many people are excited. When I say people, the people of companies who are already in this business, even their children are not excited to join this business because it's it's it's first of all capital intensive, it's it's it's still very manual, and you have to deal with farmers. There is a lot of constraint because it's a natural product. You can't get in unlimited supply of the raw material, right? So what worked for us is we are we we are the youngest in in this trade in terms of like okay, I'm me and my brother, we are still young. Most of the other guys who've been in this trade, their children are doing AI or something else. They're not interested in this. So I would go into a meeting and I would I would definitely have a playbook in terms of not just the story that okay, we come from Imatchal, etc., but we had systems in place. We had we as soon as I joined the company, we implemented an ERP. The first thing I said, guys, we'll have to move out of this tally system and get into a Microsoft or Oracle or like in proper ERP and give full traceability to our customers. So I'm not just selling the product because I'm I can I can I can present or give a pitch, but with the proof is in the pudding, like they say. So uh there's full traceability, there is consistent quality, there is punctual delivery, that's a mantra. So what we call is CQPQ, consistent quality and delivery should be on punctual times.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So with everything that was going on, how did you consider applying to the OPM program at Howard?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

I So I have a friend, and I I think you already know him, Maksha. And we are from the same town, we studied in the same school, and we have both we we like to discuss ideas. He he's also very enterprising and obviously very, very hardworking. So I I would go talk to him and we we would do a lot of you know, lot of discussions, etc. And uh we did this course, Rahul Gend. Right? And that that too I did because he he forced me to do, and then he told me about OPM. And I said, okay, why not give it a try? So that's how I applied for OPM.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

What was one of the biggest takeaways from Unit 1 that we did together?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah, there's there are so many takeaways, but one thing which I would like to highlight is the is the is the is the diversity of the of the cohort and the diverse stories which you which you hear and and you get to know the the the the hard work and the effort people have put to reach to the to whatever level they are. And it's amazing, it's very inspiring. Right? So like in our living group, we had like seven or eight people, but to hear their stories and to it's very inspiring. So I I think look, Unit 1 was very, very new to me. I I I was enamored by the fact that I ended up in Harvard and because it it it it's always it was always my dream to get into one of these Ivy League colleges and do something. But as and when every now we are part of so many OPM cohorts through WhatsApp, etc. And the network. It's amazing, man. I I'm I just played golf with one of the OPM 37 or 38 guys. He came from Nigeria and we had a wonderful round of golf. So you know, it's it's the network, it's the it's the stories which you hear and it's it's very inspirational.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Right. If you had to start your corporate job again, would you do it or would you plunge into entrepreneurship right away? I'm I I'm not I I won't be able to do it. It's tough. Any advice you would give your children about business and life that you want to share?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah, I the only advice I can give and I give them is take risks. Take as much risk as as possible. This like, you know, you you have an option of doing something and failing, or you have an option of not doing something and not even know you might ha succeed in in in a particular thing. So it's better to take the take the take the shot, take the risk, try it, and uh learn from that experience.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

So my last question, has there been any book which has uh influenced your mindset a lot that you wanna just name?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

I'm not a I'm not a big reader, but the only book I I can recommend is Siddhartha by Herman Hess. It's it's not a business book, it's about life, philosophy. That w what is the purpose of us as human beings on the planet and what are we trying to search? Because we are all yearning for something. Right? It's it's a rat race. Every you could all of us are trying to win that race. But what is the ultimate goal? What are we trying to do? You should I would definitely recommend that book.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

It's it's one of the best books to to read. Thank you, bro. Very nice book to uh that you recommended, and thanks for making the time as well. Thank you. It was a pleasure, man. Yeah, be well. Thank you. Bye. Bye.