00;00;01;05 – 00;00;32;20
Anika
Welcome to Your Brand Amplified the podcast where we interview marketers, publicists and brands to learn their stories, what makes them tick and tips and tricks that make a difference. I’m so excited to be back for another week of Your Brand Amplified. I am your host, Anika Jackson, and I am here with Bharat Kanodia, who will be speaking about a topic that’s very relevant to the audience and the listeners of our program, but something we haven’t talked about before which is valuation and what it’s worth.
00;00;32;20 – 00;00;38;29
Anika
What is your business worth and how do you get there and why is it important? Brad, welcome to our show today.
00;00;39;11 – 00;00;42;05
Bharat Kanodia
Anika, thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it.
00;00;42;11 – 00;01;02;08
Anika
Absolutely. Happy Friday. I am so excited to have you on. As I said, I have worked with a lot of startups on the PR side to try to help them to get press, to get in front of, you know, potential investors in a different way. And so what you do is something that I think is really important for them to understand.
00;01;03;09 – 00;01;11;01
Anika
And I’d love for you to first talk about who you are and how you got on this journey. And have you always been passionate about valuation?
00;01;12;09 – 00;01;17;17
Bharat Kanodia
I don’t know if I’ve been passionate about it. It helps when you are passionate about it.
00;01;19;29 – 00;01;36;09
Bharat Kanodia
You know, valuation was my first job out of college, and it turned out I was half good at it and I stuck with it. So yeah, I’ve been in valuation all my career and I’ve done all kinds of interesting, unique or weird things in valuation. So it’s been it’s been a great journey.
00;01;36;27 – 00;02;06;20
Anika
Well, you have quite the resume. You have worked on valuation, Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, GE, Tesla, assets like the Golden Gate Bridge, airports, things that I think the everyday layperson wouldn’t think of in these terms. So will you please explain a little bit about the process of valuation and what are some of the things that you do? And I’d love to hear about some of these.
00;02;06;20 – 00;02;11;13
Anika
The more unique things that you have valued and how that came about.
00;02;12;26 – 00;02;43;06
Bharat Kanodia
A The process, frankly, is fairly straightforward. So irrespective of the asset dime that I’m appraising, could be a bridge or an airport or a company or a startup and the reason I have been successful at valuing all kinds of unique or interesting or mainstream things is because I never take my eyes off the ball. I always follow the fundamentals.
00;02;43;21 – 00;03;07;17
Bharat Kanodia
And if you follow the fundamentals, you can’t go wrong. The problem is now with social media and internet and clickbait ish title people lose sight of what’s important just because they want to have a click bearish title. I mean, you see it all the time, you know, Gary Vee and all these guys, he’s a clickbeat ish type of guys.
00;03;07;17 – 00;03;22;10
Bharat Kanodia
You know, they come up with things and one day saying, college is awesome, one is in, college is back, and it’s like, I guess I laugh at people who frankly follow Gary Vee. Go back to- your a bigger idiot to follow him. You’re not a Gary Vee fan are you?
00;03;22;23 – 00;03;23;15
Anika
I don’t follow him.
00;03;23;24 – 00;03;57;10
Bharat Kanodia
OK, we have to conclude this right now. So anyway, so the and the fundamentals are three. Anything is worth anything if it’s giving you cash flow over a period of time. Two years, five years, ten years, whatever cash flow it’s giving you and you take that cash flow and you present value it to today. And that’s one value. The second way to value anything is say, hey, my neighbor’s house was just sold for $100, so my house is worth $100.
00;03;57;15 – 00;04;24;09
Bharat Kanodia
Just home. It’s a comfortable house. And third way to value anything, Hey, what will it take for me to rebuild my house from the ground up today? $100, $70, $80. And that’s one value. So as long as I keep my focus on these three methods right through three methods, I’d sort of like the primary colors, right? All other methods, which there are, right?
00;04;24;10 – 00;04;50;16
Bharat Kanodia
Many other methods, but all other methods are a derivative of one of these methods or a combination of these three methods. And when people say No, no, there’s a 15th method, oh no, there’s a 31st method that I have come up with, they’ve just sort of, you know, come up with some kind of a combination of one of these three methods.
00;04;50;16 – 00;05;03;23
Bharat Kanodia
They haven’t invented anything so, you know, so focus on the primary colors and you will never go wrong. And that’s why I’ve been able to appraise all kinds of unique and weird shit yeah.
00;05;03;23 – 00;05;13;29
Anika
So when you’re doing this and you have these, so you come up with these numbers and they are probably not the same number all the time, or are they ever the same?
00;05;14;02 – 00;05;27;05
Bharat Kanodia
It’s never the same. OK, it is the same number. Something you ought to be questioning. Oh, no. What did I do wrong here? It’s never the same number and so, like, if somebody is too nice to you, you’re like, what’s wrong? What do you want?
00;05;27;09 – 00;05;47;18
Anika
Yeah, yeah. What’s ulterior motive behind it? So, OK, so you come up with this thing, numbers to benchmark and then what’s what happens next? And I’m a layperson when it comes to this. I haven’t ever been on this side of the equation. I think I told you, I’ve I’ve worked with start ups on helping them position themselves in the media.
00;05;47;21 – 00;05;51;21
Anika
Right. But when it comes to the work that you do, it’s completely foreign to me.
00;05;52;18 – 00;06;22;09
Bharat Kanodia
Well, it’s funny because because as a outsider, the question that you asked is really the million dollar question, and that is the Achilles heel of valuation then. OK, you use these three methods and you have three data points. How do you align these data points if they’re different or if they’re pretty close? And that is really, you know, you know, when they say valuation is the art and science.
00;06;22;23 – 00;06;46;18
Bharat Kanodia
So the science piece is coming up with those three data points. The art piece is trying to understand the relationships between these three data points and how they align with each other. And, you know, what’s the right answer when you take it out average? Let me just tell you that average is almost never the right answer. Hmm. OK, you never take an average, right?
00;06;46;18 – 00;07;15;20
Bharat Kanodia
People will say just take an average. I mean, OK, so one gives me value of a dollar. Another gives me a value of $1,000,000,000. Average what you know, let’s call it $500 million. Everybody go home now. Don’t work like that. Wow. So it always comes down to that. Hey, you know, while you’re working on these three methods, the exercise will help you understand the pros and cons of each method.
00;07;16;00 – 00;07;42;17
Bharat Kanodia
Mm hmm. Right. Pertaining to that particular asset. Right. And that’s the research that’s going to help you align the three values that, hey, should I be more skewed towards the income method or should I be more skewed towards the cost method? Because you’ve done your research when you’ve come up with those answers and you know what’s good, bad and ugly about each method, at least if you’ve done your job right, you would say so.
00;07;42;25 – 00;08;09;24
Anika
OK, so you figure out which way you kind of want to steer the ship towards which valuation is this is most of the work that you do when somebody is I mean, I guess you would work probably looking at the diverse things that you work on at all phases. So a company that’s really a beginning startup trying to figure out if they can even start going to series A or, you know, if they’re going to start down that road, somebody in the middle.
00;08;10;09 – 00;08;35;19
Anika
What are some of the things that you look for or the kind of companies that you that you usually work with? Is it in that wide range of, you know, very initial startup that has a good buzz and is promising and hopefully not the clickbait buzz, but just actually genuine product buzz to things that are, you know, a few years in the maturity and, you know, have a proven track record.
00;08;37;26 – 00;08;53;21
Bharat Kanodia
So there’s a saying, don’t judge a man by the answers, but by the questions he asks. Hmm. And as a outsider, you are asking pretty good questions.
00;08;53;22 – 00;08;54;13
Anika
Oh, thank.
00;08;54;13 – 00;08;54;19
Bharat Kanodia
You.
00;08;56;26 – 00;09;33;02
Bharat Kanodia
And as a PR person, that actually is a pretty good quality because most PR people are more into sales and people think sales is about talking and talking talking. It’s more about asking questions. So kudos to you for asking the right question. Oh, so when you were talking about startups, right? Startups valuations are most crucial for startups. And the reason for that is they almost never have a profit there’s no cash flow value.
00;09;33;08 – 00;09;53;09
Bharat Kanodia
Right. And they’re lucky if they have a product or revenue. Mm hmm. It might be two guys working out of a garage and hustling and saying, oh, we’re going to be, you know, $1,000,000,000 company tomorrow. But they got nothing today. Yeah. So what am I valuing a pie in the sky? Something they’re promising right?
00;09;55;23 – 00;10;20;19
Bharat Kanodia
I’m not saying that it’s not worth anything, but it is very difficult to opine on that pie in the sky. Hmm. So and yet, even though they don’t have any profit product or revenue startups of startup founders, they need to attract investors, customers, and employees. Yeah, and how would they do that when they don’t have any money? They don’t have any product, they don’t have any profit.
00;10;21;26 – 00;10;49;04
Bharat Kanodia
They do that by telling people this pie in the sky currency called valuations. Mm. OK. We have zero revenue. We have zero profit, but we’re worth hundred million dollars. Come work for us, OK? And people don’t know any better. People are stupid. People believe the headlines. People like you. Right? Right. I mean, that’s why you have a job, right?
00;10;49;04 – 00;11;10;15
Bharat Kanodia
Let’s face it. Look, you want to talk to me? Let’s be candid. You’re trying to, you know, insult anybody. I’m just saying that’s the way it is, right? And who’s coming up with those numbers? Schmucks like me, right? So you have these pie in the sky numbers that are printed in the media that everybody just eats up. And these numbers are made up by people like me.
00;11;10;15 – 00;11;49;01
Bharat Kanodia
So it’s like, wait a second. It’s like, you know, and some startups are better than others, right? But startups are kind of like churning butter, right? You got to churn it for a long time with a lot of patience and diligence. And that’s when you make butter. People who leave halfway their valuations don’t get anywhere. They’re never going to make cream so the importance of the story is don’t just believe the headlines that you might read in the newspaper because it’s let’s just say media is pay to play.
00;11;49;07 – 00;12;15;11
Bharat Kanodia
You know, yesterday I was talking to somebody and we were talking about doing something. And then later on this said to be an invoice. Oh, wait a second. I thought this was sort of earned media, like, no, no, no. With this paid media, I’m like, I’m sorry, honey. I don’t pay to play. Yeah. Content stands on itself, and I’m writing those stupid checks because I don’t have to.
00;12;15;26 – 00;12;16;24
Anika
Yeah, well, and that’s.
00;12;17;11 – 00;12;19;25
Bharat Kanodia
Yeah, why go to a prostitute when you can get it for free?
00;12;20;22 – 00;12;23;06
Anika
Oh, well, that’s quite the analogy.
00;12;23;18 – 00;12;27;07
Bharat Kanodia
But sorry. No, it’s an analogy.
00;12;27;15 – 00;12;47;19
Anika
And I will say that that’s something that really burns us as PR marketing professionals is these agencies that say, Oh, pay me X amount of money and we’ll get you in the media. Well, OK, you send out a press release. Yeah. You get some back links on, you know, certain pages of sites. It might be an NBC or an ABC affiliate in some small town.
00;12;47;28 – 00;13;01;24
Anika
And then you can say you were on NBC or ABC, but that’s not actually earned media. So we work really hard to make sure that we’re putting genuine stories out about products that actually have something. So, yeah, that’s that’s a big.
00;13;04;18 – 00;13;25;02
Bharat Kanodia
And forgive me, I wasn’t trying to talk your profession. I’m just saying that, you know, I and I have worked with a lot of people in PR and frankly, PR people are the nicest people. And I like to work with people when they’re actually genuine. And my process is very simple. I’m just myself and I approach them and I tell them, Hey, this is who I am, this is what I talk about.
00;13;25;19 – 00;13;35;19
Bharat Kanodia
And most of them love it. They’re like, Yeah, we would want you to we want we want to talk about you. You want to work with you. The ones who don’t. They don’t you know, it’s not everybody has to love everybody.
00;13;36;00 – 00;13;46;24
Anika
But to your point, a lot of people, companies, entrepreneurs fall prey to that. That paid media scenario because they don’t know the difference. And I’m.
00;13;46;27 – 00;13;49;15
Bharat Kanodia
Right. And people can tell when it’s pay to play, by the way.
00;13;49;24 – 00;14;11;14
Anika
Yes, people can tell 100% now. But I have had people who is talking to us potentially working together and they said, oh, well, I’m working with this other agency, and they got me in this and this and like that’s not a real publication because, you know, I was at the New York Daily or some some magazine that’s like I’m like, that’s not really a publication, like a real publication.
00;14;11;14 – 00;14;12;04
Bharat Kanodia
That’s yeah.
00;14;12;12 – 00;14;47;28
Anika
You know, you’re paying to have a sponsored post, basically. So it’s totally different. Now, that brings me to your question of in your business, what makes the difference between somebody who’s really good at their job and going to be straight shooters? Like I can tell you are with a company that they’re valuing and are there shysters who work in your industry who will go on to you’re not using those three basic the primary colors, as you mentioned, but are going to use maybe the 12, 13, 14, 15 formula to try to you know, twist or change the story.
00;14;49;08 – 00;15;20;05
Bharat Kanodia
No, no. If they’re using the 15 formula, I’m not saying they’re wrong. All I’m trying to say is the 15 formula is not a primary color, it’s a derivative of those three methods and it’s a derivative, it’s not the primary methods, it’s a derivative method. And most people, I think they try to do a good job, you know, for example I say said no to a client this morning, you know, it was a litigation client and they have a court date coming up which is two weeks out.
00;15;20;16 – 00;15;38;19
Bharat Kanodia
But we’ve been talking about doing their valuations for the last eight weeks and they finally turned around and they said, Oh yeah, OK, we need this valuation now. I’m like, No, honey, sorry, that doesn’t work like that. This was only two weeks ago, and that’s when I quoted you what I quoted you. You want going to do it now for saying, I can’t do it.
00;15;39;08 – 00;15;54;09
Bharat Kanodia
You want me to do it now? I’m going to have to charge you double. And they said, What? Wait, why would you have to charge your double because I have to be very careful. I have to put more people on the project so I don’t screw things up. And of course, they don’t get that. I’m like, I guess we’re not working together.
00;15;54;09 – 00;16;07;28
Bharat Kanodia
Yeah, I’m sorry I tried to help you, but, you know, when clients don’t pull the trigger and they know they’re under a deadline, especially a court date. Oh, sorry. That’s not on me. That’s on you. Yeah.
00;16;09;02 – 00;16;32;14
Anika
What is one of the most surprising? I don’t know if you can if you feel comfortable mentioning companies or clients or people are just generalizations, but what is one of the most surprising valuations that you did where you you maybe got in there and it was completely different than what it looked like when you first, you know, the private fascia like you got in there and you, you know, it was valued much.
00;16;32;14 – 00;16;38;16
Anika
You thought, oh, this is worth a lot more or a lot less or this shouldn’t even be going down this path.
00;16;40;19 – 00;16;43;25
Bharat Kanodia
You’ve seen that movie on We Work. What’s it called?
00;16;44;02 – 00;16;48;25
Anika
Oh, yes. I’ve been watching it recently. We crash.
00;16;48;25 – 00;16;49;11
Bharat Kanodia
That way.
00;16;49;22 – 00;16;50;27
Anika
Yeah. We crashed, I think.
00;16;51;07 – 00;17;14;20
Bharat Kanodia
Yeah, we crashed. I was in the room when that debacle happened. Oh, my gosh. And I went, oh, I can talk about it because it’s public knowledge, but I was there. Wow. When I told the investors when they wanted to the $47 million valuation and I had mentioned it to two of them that well, to my detriment, I said it may be me that isn’t we work just a fancy way of reading space.
00;17;15;14 – 00;17;39;04
Bharat Kanodia
Yes. Yes. And they didn’t want to hear it. They’re like, no, it’s a technology company. We’re Goldman, like Ford. I’m just a lowly valuation guy. What do you want three months later that $47 billion when we 1 billion I was in the room then I had to and I kept my mouth shut because it’s not my place to say it was my place to say three months ago yeah.
00;17;39;08 – 00;17;44;05
Bharat Kanodia
One day it’s happened. It’s happened. So yeah, shit like that happens all the time.
00;17;44;12 – 00;17;58;11
Anika
Wow. So you go through the whole process. You have a proven track record, you’re giving them your straight shooting and telling them, look, this is the real deal. But at that point, the investors can choose to listen or not listen. So then the onus is on them.
00;17;58;21 – 00;18;15;17
Bharat Kanodia
I’m working with the client right now. I mean, you know, fantastic entrepreneur. I mean, her company is doing extremely well and she thinks her company is worth ten to 20 billion, ten to 20 million and I’m coming up at two and a half million.
00;18;16;16 – 00;18;17;08
Anika
Big difference.
00;18;18;06 – 00;18;37;20
Bharat Kanodia
So I’m going to have to tell her I’m sorry, honey. It’s not ten, 20 million. I don’t know what to tell you and she’s not going to like the number. Yeah. Because in her mind it’s worth ten, 20 million and once somebody has made up their mind I’m not trying to change their mind. Right. I’m trained to do what I do.
00;18;37;20 – 00;18;44;17
Bharat Kanodia
So I’m just going to tell her that sorry it’s not ten, 20 million as to what actually like it or not, that’s what you paid me to do.
00;18;45;22 – 00;19;04;21
Anika
So this is really, I love hearing this side of things really, because I’ve worked with some startups that OK, they raise money, they’re going to launch immediately and then, oh, no, we’re going to delay the launch, then we’re going to delay it again. And then as you know, on my side of things, I’m preparing what’s the media plan?
00;19;04;21 – 00;19;27;01
Anika
When are we rolling out the PR strategy? When are we working on social media? When are we working on X, Y, Z? And all of it hinges on when they’re going to launch and then they delay it and then they delay it and then they delay it. I lose credibility. They lose credibility. You know, I had one who went through a name change after we’d already started seeing them in the press on really good outlets.
00;19;27;05 – 00;19;45;27
Anika
You know, they got they have some celebrity and people involved, so they’re able to pull some strings and get on, you know, today’s show or Good Morning America or a show like that and talk about and I’m like, OK, but then you’re going to change the name right after that interview. And then you’re going to launch and then, oh, now you’re launching, you know, a year later.
00;19;46;06 – 00;20;19;15
Anika
So and I think part of it is and I don’t know anything about the side of like the valuation and all of that or how much they’ve gotten in investment. But do you see that some like very often where once you get in there and talk through the numbers and they really see like how much work it’s going to take to launch their product or get the money, that’s really that appropriate number for their valuation and to launch properly that is I guess, is that a common scenario or is that just the people that I’m meeting or who are trying to start their businesses?
00;20;20;06 – 00;20;55;22
Bharat Kanodia
The problem is on the go, media has really skewed people’s expectations because 99% of the companies aren’t able to raise money or they don’t raise money at crazy valuations. But all you hear and see in the media is they raised 100 million at $1,000,000,000, you know, 200 million, a $50 billion or whatever crazy numbers. So most entrepreneurs in their mind they’re thinking that’s normal, right?
00;20;55;27 – 00;21;27;10
Bharat Kanodia
That’s, that’s the middle you know, that’s expected that’s average to it, not average. What you hear is the Brad Pitt’s of the world, the George Clooney’s of the world, right? The Meryl Streep. So not everybody is Meryl Streep. Right. So, you know, you there’s nothing wrong with being a nice theater actress or, you know, a nice actor on Broadway.
00;21;27;10 – 00;22;06;00
Bharat Kanodia
But, you know, Brad Pitt. Yeah. You know, yeah. So what that entrepreneur I’m telling you about, right, where she thinks there are companies worth ten, 20 million. Why does she think that? Because she’s read all these stupid headlines. She hasn’t done the real analysis that I’ve done. Yeah. So all in her mind, she is thinking that, hey, my neighbors, cousin’s wife, her company was sold for ten X, so my company is worth at least 15 x and that’s the calculation they’ve done in their mind, right?
00;22;06;26 – 00;22;31;19
Anika
Yeah. And on my side, I see that where if a client comes in, they immediately want to be in Forbes or Time magazine or Fortune or a big publication when like we haven’t, we’re just laying the groundwork first. We need to make sure, do you have, do you even have a bio? Do you have your key messaging? You know, do you know what your customer personas are when you’re reaching out to investors or the media or to potential consumers?
00;22;32;20 – 00;22;51;21
Anika
We need to start with the groundwork. So it sounds like it’s similar in a different way. You have to lay the groundwork. You can’t usually go from zero to 100. Sometimes it sometimes you can, but you can. Typically people have to you know, you have to do the work and the step up to get to the point where you even get those interviews.
00;22;52;12 – 00;23;16;12
Bharat Kanodia
I have a friend every time I meet him, he was like, You know, I have a client you know, he’s got $4 billion and he wants to invest somewhere. Do you have a company? He can invest money. And I say, No, oh, you know what? I have, you know, a client who wants to invest $100 million in real estate. Do you know anybody?
00;23;16;12 – 00;23;45;01
Bharat Kanodia
And I’m like, No. And I say, no, because he wants to go from floor zero to floor 100 within 40 seconds, OK? And you want to be careful of people like that. And by the way, I always pick up his tab whenever we go for dinner or drinks. So you got clients that you know are worth $4 billion and they want to invest with you.
00;23;45;01 – 00;24;03;01
Bharat Kanodia
I wouldn’t be picking up your tab every time. Yeah. So that’s why I just keep saying no. So yeah, be wary of people who do that, especially who want to come one time. Magazine and all that, right? Because yeah, of course they hired on and go I got can get us from Time magazine. Well, Arnica is no good, dude.
00;24;03;01 – 00;24;26;08
Bharat Kanodia
It don’t work like that. You don’t plan to see it and expect it to bear fruit the next day. It takes time. I mean, Time magazine isn’t going to hear you until you’re in another publication that’s maybe below target. Maybe then somebody you know, so you got to work up to it. But people, all they see is you know, Elizabeth Holmes.
00;24;26;08 – 00;24;35;14
Bharat Kanodia
Hey, she was on Fortune and Time magazine. Why can’t I get on Time magazine? Because I’m legit, dude. It took her ten years to get there. You know?
00;24;35;18 – 00;25;07;25
Anika
Yeah. Well, and speaking of that story, that’s I have had clients, I have one client specifically who’s actually in the Bay Area and she has been really trying to fundraise. She is a black queer woman founder, the only person in hyperbaric oxygen therapy space has great case studies, numbers for her brick and mortar. But when she is trying to go out and get investment, she’s you know, I think she has the barriers of black queer woman.
00;25;07;25 – 00;25;32;06
Anika
But then also people all look at her and say, well, Elizabeth Holmes, Elizabeth Holmes. So I know. And on one hand, people think that they’re worth a lot more until they get the actual numbers because they see companies like that. But on the other hand, things like that when it finally crashes are making it harder sometimes for people to maybe reach the right investor.
00;25;32;07 – 00;25;36;16
Anika
Maybe they need to, you know, look for different types of investors. I don’t know.
00;25;36;23 – 00;25;38;10
Bharat Kanodia
But this one was a scapegoat.
00;25;40;22 – 00;26;08;03
Bharat Kanodia
Yeah. I mean, she’s no saint. Let me say that, too, right? Yet she did a lot of things that were unethical. She shouldn’t have done that. But that was every entrepreneur, male, female. Let’s forget about the sex at this point. Yeah. They their job is to dream. Yeah. If they don’t, they shouldn’t be doing that job.
00;26;10;09 – 00;26;45;14
Bharat Kanodia
Well, the problem occurs when it stops being a dream to a hallucination. But I got to keep saying this lie because I have been saying this lie the problem is the investors, the people who invested in Elizabeth Holmes, they wanted to believe in the hallucination because it was to their benefit they just made her a scapegoat. They all were happy writing checks until she was making money.
00;26;45;14 – 00;27;06;03
Bharat Kanodia
It was almost like a Ponzi scheme. Wow. Oh, yeah. You’re making money or I’ll give you more money. Or you raise more money. I’m going to give you more money. Wait a second. You stop raising money. You are a thief. Wow. So she is no saint, but she was a scapegoat because these guys aren’t going to admit that.
00;27;06;11 – 00;27;28;20
Bharat Kanodia
Yeah, we were greedy and stupid to give her money. We didn’t really do what and we just got impressed with her, you know, because she was Steve Jobs, and she was playing in it, too. I mean, you know, she was not doing anything different than Steve Jobs except, you know, the music stopped, that’s all. You know, this just made her into a scapegoat, that’s all.
00;27;29;20 – 00;27;42;11
Anika
OK, now I feel like we’re really getting into the good stuff. I’m like, can I have you on to talk about all the different companies and, like, really pull back the curtain, peel the onion, it’s really fascinating. Yeah.
00;27;42;11 – 00;27;55;21
Bharat Kanodia
What do you think? It would have made a movie on her? The people who probably, you know, funded that movie are the people who funded her because they wanted to say, hey, I had nothing to do with this. It was very interesting yeah.
00;27;55;21 – 00;28;01;17
Anika
People don’t really think about it from that angle. That’s not what, again, the media portrays.
00;28;02;11 – 00;28;21;19
Bharat Kanodia
Hey, the media is a media is like salt in the right amount. It can really make a dish blossom in the wrong amount and really fuck things up. Yeah.
00;28;23;19 – 00;28;35;09
Anika
Well, so what are things that continue to inspire and motivate you in this work? I mean, I know you said, OK, I was good at this. This is my job right out of college. And you you kept on this path.
00;28;35;24 – 00;29;00;10
Bharat Kanodia
You know, now I’m at a point I don’t have to hide behind anything. I just say it like it is and I enjoy it. Yeah. Oh, and you know, when I don’t know something, I’m also at a point where I say, Hey, I don’t know, I shouldn’t be talking about it for the last few years, I’ve been creating a YouTube channel where I’m educating people on valuations and it’s gotten bigger traction.
00;29;00;29 – 00;29;42;02
Bharat Kanodia
And my next thing is I want to have an unscripted show on National Geographic around valuations. So and I share that with you because anybody listening to this would listen to me asking for this. Yeah. So I’m looking for a production company where I can add value. So I want to have a show, unscripted show, where I am valuing things like the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, because people want to know what these assets are worth and I am one valuation person, frankly, in the world who has appraise unique or weird assets like this.
00;29;42;23 – 00;29;52;00
Bharat Kanodia
So think of this show as modern morals, except it has the economic aspect to it, not just engineering.
00;29;52;09 – 00;30;04;13
Anika
So well, I hate to tell you this, but my partner is a documentary filmmaker and has some projects that are being created by this.
00;30;04;26 – 00;30;06;28
Bharat Kanodia
Because I like this is because.
00;30;06;28 – 00;30;14;26
Anika
It’s so funny when I do these interviews and I know this will be this will make it into the interview. I don’t I don’t like to do a lot of editing. I like people to really hear everything.
00;30;15;25 – 00;30;16;15
Bharat Kanodia
That’s why I said it.
00;30;16;22 – 00;30;40;21
Anika
Yeah. Well, and that’s why I’m saying this is that I feel like every time I do an interview with somebody for the podcast, that message is exactly what I need to hear or they need to hear at that exact moment in time. So you sharing this on the podcast? And I’m like, Oh, I actually know people I can put you in touch with to see, you know, to go through this idea because they have projects that are being looked at, at Netflix and at other places.
00;30;41;03 – 00;31;03;17
Bharat Kanodia
So show your partner my YouTube channel. I want to see if they like my work. And I think there is a way we can make that into a long form show and work with a production company and sell it to next year Discovery or History Channel or any, because I think there’s a market for those people. You know, you’ve we’ve all seen all kinds of shows around wonders of the world, right?
00;31;03;18 – 00;31;26;02
Bharat Kanodia
Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, how we’ve always made the story behind Taj Mahal, you know, the, you know, the ancient aliens and all that crap. Nobody has ever dissected those assets. From the economic perspective, what will it cost to build it today? Could you sell it? Could you buy it? How much money can you make off of it?
00;31;26;03 – 00;31;29;23
Bharat Kanodia
Nobody has done that. I am somebody who can do that. Wow.
00;31;30;04 – 00;31;43;13
Anika
That’s very that’s a very unique perspective and value add. 100%. What is one of the most surprising experiences that you had in working with a company.
00;31;46;16 – 00;32;08;21
Bharat Kanodia
That surprised me and things seem kind of surprising nowadays, you know, it’s just that, you know, people just have fallacies of grandeur, right? Like that lady I’m talking about, you know, her company is worth two and a half and like, you know, somebody would come to me and say, this was recent, this was funny to somebody to me recently.
00;32;09;02 – 00;32;30;16
Bharat Kanodia
And they said they want me to value their company. I said, Great, happy to do it. What’s the revenue? And that’s usually my, you know, few of the questions. What’s your revenue of $20,000? OK, all right. That’s all right. How much money have you raised? $200,000. OK, um, why do you need a valuation? We’re looking to raise more money.
00;32;30;22 – 00;33;03;16
Bharat Kanodia
OK, what do you think your company is worth about 3 million? Oh, wow. How did you get from 20,000 in revenue and 200,000 in capital raise to $3 million? Oh, we just spent like $150,000 on our branding in our website and our image and, you know, PR and you know, we’ve created a brand like you’ve created a brand and you’re selling your revenues $20,000.
00;33;04;04 – 00;33;20;11
Bharat Kanodia
You haven’t created a brand anything just because you spend $150,000 doesn’t mean you actually even are worth $150,000, doesn’t work like that. So yeah, I just chuckle when I get this. Yeah.
00;33;20;24 – 00;33;26;22
Anika
Well and that was actually my next question is what are some things that founders need to do to get ready for valuation.
00;33;36;26 – 00;34;02;29
Bharat Kanodia
I mean, just, you know, there’s no being ready for a valuation, right? I mean, I mean frankly, Onaga nobody wakes up one morning and says, I’m going to call my appraiser Barratt today. I mean you don’t go to a chiropractor because you feel like seeing him right you know, you go to chiropractic because you have a problem or you know you’re not feeling comfortable or there’s something that’s bothering you or there’s a need seem him with me.
00;34;02;29 – 00;34;28;15
Bharat Kanodia
You don’t go do that because I want to take Tommy to the vet today. You know, Tommi probably needs his shot or her shot or there’s a problem or he needs a bath or something. Same thing with me. I get those phone calls because there is a need. They’re looking to raise capital or they need to file taxes or they need to put money down on their books or, you know, they’re doing a transaction or something.
00;34;28;23 – 00;34;36;20
Bharat Kanodia
That’s when I get those phone calls. So whenever you know, somebody needs a valuation, they need to have it very clear in the head why they need a valuation.
00;34;39;13 – 00;34;52;14
Anika
Is there any other advice that you’d like to leave with people who are listening that you know or are thinking about starting something, or are they their mid, you know, mid flow there?
00;34;52;15 – 00;34;55;13
Bharat Kanodia
Really, I think your audience have been tired with me by now.
00;34;55;24 – 00;35;01;11
Anika
I know you had some great stories and really solid advice to share on.
00;35;01;11 – 00;35;01;24
Bharat Kanodia
Thank you.
00;35;02;00 – 00;35;06;18
Anika
Absolutely. And what’s the easiest way for people to find you.
00;35;08;09 – 00;35;15;25
Bharat Kanodia
Go to our website. There’s a Contact US button and send us an email and if you have any questions, so happy to answer them.
00;35;16;09 – 00;35;36;28
Anika
Right in the show. Notes, I’ll include some links to your YouTube and some of the other links that you’ve shared with me so that people can really dig in more and get some really good lessons from you and what you’re looking for. So I really appreciate your time today. I know it’s funny because you never know exactly where we’re going to go when I do this because I want to dig into it.
00;35;36;28 – 00;35;42;25
Anika
So I loved hearing your stories, and I know I’m sure you have a lot more to share. You should maybe write a book too.
00;35;43;18 – 00;36;03;03
Bharat Kanodia
I have been offered to write a book by Wiley. Yeah, yeah. Her book is boring. Who reads anymore? I read, but, you know, yeah, people like to watch things people don’t like to do too much effort. People like instant gratification. So I would rather do the unscripted show and not go.
00;36;04;07 – 00;36;15;19
Anika
Yes, I see that loud and clear. I also think this would be a good book that I would listen to an audible, for instance, when I’m driving to and from the office. So just keep that in your mind, too. Yeah.
00;36;15;25 – 00;36;18;14
Bharat Kanodia
Actually, I have a book title in mind and I have a few chapters.
00;36;18;14 – 00;36;19;28
Anika
Ready, but see, there you go.
00;36;21;16 – 00;36;22;24
Bharat Kanodia
I want to do more work on it.
00;36;23;27 – 00;36;28;23
Anika
Yeah, maybe. Maybe down the road after your successful unscripted show launch.
00;36;29;02 – 00;36;30;03
Bharat Kanodia
Yes, maybe. Yes.
00;36;30;03 – 00;36;39;18
Anika
Wonderful. Well, Bharat, thank you so much for your time today. This is a really wonderful way to start the morning for me. And I learned a lot, and I know our audience will, too.
00;36;40;20 – 00;36;42;26
Bharat Kanodia
Thanks for having me.
00;36;43;05 – 00;36;48;29
Anika
Want more? Check out AmplifywithAnika.com or follow me on socials @AmplifywithAnika.