The last decade has seen a surge in the number of start-ups, with Tech start-ups leading the way. Several innovative ideas have emanated, numerous business entities have come into existence, few of which were acquired by big players, and innumerable technologies continue to take shape in the form of business ventures.

With burgeoning start-ups, there is also a need for consulting companies that can bring fluency to processes by guiding them and the other small and medium enterprises with strategic outlook, financial discipline, ability to raise funds towards growth, and related aspects. Chandrashekar Kupperi, Founder of ANOVA Corporate Services is backing and guiding the MSMEs and start-up community in a dynamic way.

Chandrashekar was fascinated with mathematics and the numbers world when he was in
secondary school. So, he chose ‘accounting and finance’ for his higher education to improve his ability to analyze and interpret data. Then with Chartered Accountancy and finance related credentials, his fascination increased towards slicing and dicing of data.

This led him to seek knowledge in Investment Banking, as data analysis and insightful
information was the core of Investment Banking. His employment stints and the industry
experience provided opportunities to deal with varied businesses, particularly intermixed with the top management, which helped him to learn a lot more quickly, besides developing a strong professional network.

Story of ANOVA

ANOVA is an Investment Banking & Advisory business that provides value-added services to Corporates (including MSMEs and Starts-ups), both in India and abroad. It was established in 2013 and offers Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Advisory and Fundraise services, besides Business Valuation, Financial and Commercial Due Diligence Services and Financial Modeling. ANOVA also offers Strategic CFO services on selective basis, to empower Entrepreneurs and Business Owners with financial or commercial acumen while providing support in strategic areas.

“As I started, I chalked out a journey which would secure our growth, but in a consistent and phased manner,” says Chandrashekar. The last seven years has exactly been along these lines and the company has been growing in a consistent manner. With increasing learning curve, it has been able to iterate and pivot better in terms of how the firm is offering services and meet the requirements pragmatically. Being Sector-Agnostic, ANOVA has completed assignments across various sectors including: Manufacturing, FMCG, Luxury Brands, Healthcare, Hospitality and Technology-led / Tech-Enabled businesses.

Difficult Times Create Different Opportunities

“To me, getting the Clients to accept that ‘things could be different, and that different can be better’ has been the toughest challenge,” shares Chandrashekar. ANOVA’s larger strength has
been in ‘structuring’ the requirement for the client. But then this calls for a different approach, and it has not been easy to persuade and convince the client(s) to adopt the same.

To manage this, Chandrashekar spends significant time and effort with the Founders and the Senior Management Team, working closely without impacting their independence and focus on day-to-day operations. The team at ANOVA strives to simulate the end-result mostly by citing appropriate illustrations and is audacious enough to agree a significant part of its fees based on successful outcome. This has resulted in enlargement of trust by the clients in the company as well as building a stronger association.

ANOVA predominantly works with mid-size Corporates and early stage companies. “We believe that the consistency in growth for these businesses truly occurs only when we can successfully address and increase their confidence to handle changes, via periodical mentoring and being strict in not compromising on financial discipline,” explains Chandrashekar.

The key aspect of his role with the clients is to discuss a pragmatic solution with them, and to hear them out and ensure that the advice befits the situation. He considers it a responsibility, as the solution should not be limited to merely a temporary one. It needs to bring about a permanent and progressive change over a time period. “To me, this role is a gift and a great responsibility. I feel accountable to the team members and my clients including the potential customers,” Chandrashekar describes.

Distinguished Leadership

In terms of work-life balance, Chandrashekar was able to balance between personal and
professional life largely in the past two years. The first five years were invested in laying
ANOVA’s foundation. Since the last two years, he has been able to prioritize his timings and has realized big time that clock management on personal and professional level never works, but what truly helps is ‘being fully present in those personal or professional moments’ that helps one balance life effectively.

He describes himself as ‘persistent’. “I get self-inspired in those moments and rise-up decisively after every situation which has not gone my way. I believe bouncing back positively and strongly in every unfavorable situation is the spirit of an inspirational and growth-focused entrepreneur,” heartens Chandrashekar! According to him, every idea is worth listening to and what differentiates the successful and the nobodies in the entrepreneurial world is the ‘business model’ conceived, adopted, and pivoted by the entrepreneur to support the implementation of that idea.

Five years down the line, ANOVA would be actively engaged on corporate advisory matters with larger corporates across the globe. “We will be largely helping them mature in business process optimization and efficiency in financial information management,” projects  Chandrashekar. ANOVA’s vision is to become a leading Investment Banker and a brand wellknown globally by 2025. “To top this all, we believe the day of managing our ‘own’ fund is not far away,” concludes Chandrashekar.