Meet a Bain & Company Senior Advisor and Uncover the Power of People-Driven Leadership

From his humble beginnings as an investment banker in the US and Hong Kong, Suvir has had an interesting career culminating in almost 20 years at Bain & Company in Singapore where he used to run the firm’s APAC Private Equity business, but semi-retired to a Senior Advisor role a few years ago. He’s also made the bold step into the world of angel investing and has built a portfolio of about 15 companies in less than 3 years.

With his extensive industry experience at one of the world’s top management consulting firms and his recent focus on investing, it’s safe to say that Suvir Varma is one to watch.

Apart from his role at Bain, he also shares his expertise as an advisor to several other companies including Navis Capital, Campbell Lutyens, as well as tech startups like PraisePal. Besides imparting his knowledge, he also gets involved with the companies on various topics including sourcing talent, fundraising and strategy.

While all of this may sound impressive, there is more to Suvir than his past titles and accolades; he is also a purpose-driven leader with a heart for people.

We had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with him on how the pandemic has impacted him, his unique approach to leadership, and his natural transition to angel investing.

Navigating the Pandemic While Leading Entirely Remote Teams

Alas, even the most seasoned leaders weren’t immune to the effects of the pandemic. When COVID-19 hit Singapore, Suvir and his teams across his various roles had to transition to remote work just like many others across industries, which presented a steep learning curve.

With his extroverted nature as a leader, social distancing and being in isolation for extended periods has impacted his ability to maintain genuine connections with his team and clients.

“Being an extrovert, I missed the ability to interact with teams and clients in person. For new relationships, it was much harder to truly connect and get to know people during the earlier stages of the pandemic”.

On top of that, creating margin and finding a balance between work and personal life was a struggle as well. When your place of work, play, and rest are all intertwined, it’s hard to draw the line.

But Suvir’s eventual solution was simple: maintaining open lines of communication and constantly checking in on people despite the distance. As for creating a work-life balance? Suvir says he didn’t do this well at first, but just scheduling time in his calendar for non-work activities seemed to work well for him. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the most effective ones.

On Being a True-People Leader & Staying Connected

If there’s anything that drives Suvir the most in his career, it’s the people around him. Combined with the company’s leadership philosophy, where “a Bainee never lets another Bainee fail”, Suvir’s approach to leadership revolves around making sure his colleagues are protected, valued, and recognised for all the hard work they put in.

Effective leaders will know that this is the key to boosting employee morale and overall productivity, where everybody wins.

Ask anyone from the team and they’ll most likely tell you about his people-driven leadership style with vigour.

“If I have had any success, it was only because people invested in me when I was younger in my career. If I can help anyone in their career or life journey, then I will try to do that. It gives me energy to see them be successful.”

— Suvir Varma

For someone who’s been in the industry for nearly 20 years with such a prestigious title, you’d think he would come off as unapproachable and cold to anyone that isn’t on his level.

Instead, Suvir takes no account of job titles and professional levels, and always has his door open to anyone who needs help —whether it’s a temporary intern or a senior executive. For us, that is the hallmark of a true leader and role model for the people.

Wearing Multiple Hats: From Senior Advisor to Angel Investor

When you ask most investors out there why they decided to make the shift to angel investing, you’d get the same usual responses. Potential payback, a great opportunity to diversify their investments, encouraging figures from scalable businesses—you get the gist.

In Suvir’s case, it was simply the natural next step in the course of his professional career. His role as Senior Advisor primarily involved advising investors on finding good companies and advising those companies on their strategy and operations. Angel investing allowed him to have the best of both worlds. “I get to do both in one shot and see the results from my decisions”.

Before deciding which startups to work with and impart his expertise, Suvir asks himself a couple of questions to assess whether they meet his personal criteria:

• What problem is the company solving?
• Is that a real problem that needs solving, to begin with?
• Is the business idea scalable, and is the commercial model robust?
• Are there clear exit options for the business down the road?
• Are the founders willing to listen to feedback as they encounter problems along the way?

Of course, a little bit of intuition or “trusting your gut” also plays a part in one’s role as an angel, which is why Suvir took the leap and decided to invest in PraisePal. On top of meeting his standards, PraisePal’s vision to drive true organisational change through a culture of recognition also aligned with Suvir’s personal values.

“All of the above points were checked off! But the passion of the founders was a real distinctive characteristic, and I have already seen how you have been agile with your plans.”

— Suvir Varma on why he invested in PraisePal

What Makes a True Leader, According to Suvir Varma

“Not everyone is a born leader but anyone can become one”. If there’s one thing we can learn from Suvir and his career journey, it’s that. Beyond the numbers and statistics, this is how he measures success as a leader:

• Constantly work on things you enjoy and create a positive impact at the same time
• Work with people whom you learn from
• Uplift others by grooming them into the leaders they are meant to be, by giving them open and honest feedback  
• Having some form of balance in your life (even though he says he still struggles with this today!)

“Be authentic! There is no single way to be inspiring to others. But if you are authentic, show care and concern, listen attentively and have someone’s back, you will inspire them.
”

— Suvir Varma

There is not one single way to lead, but we can all take a page out of Suvir’s playbook.

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