Jimbo Paris Show #86 – Successful Journey to an Unfamiliar Country (Mohan Ananda)

Hi, I'm Jimbo Paris, and you're listening to the Jimbo Paris show. All right, how's it going? Everyone? This is Jimbo Paris. Welcome to the Jimbo Paris Show. And today we have Dr. Mohan Ananda. And he is a CEO of the International Acquisition Corp. And he basically, he operates sort of a blank check company. And he's the executive expert of the second opinion. And, again, very successful, man. Let's see what he has to say.

Thanks a lot. Thank you.

Okay, great. So can you tell me who you are, what you're about? And what your messages?

Yes, let me start a little brief background. I came as a student from India and in 1967. So it's many, many, many, much older than you many years ago. And I came to Pasadena and beautiful part of Southern California as a student at Caltech, California Institute of Technology. And then I lived throughout the rest of my life. In Southern California, I have three stages in my professional background, I started as a scientist, in fact, I have a PhD in astrophysics, worked with NASA on interplanetary travel. And also, I'm kind of one of the key architects for GPS Global Positioning System. So that's my science related stage one, then I became a lawyer. And I've been a lawyer, of course, ever since. And I helped with technology companies, intellectual property, areas, starting, you know, raising capital for them. So things of that type my second carrier, then I converted that into becoming an entrepreneur. And I have my own started number of companies, some are failures, some are successful. I took three companies public, actually, this is the the current 1/4. One is the four companies public and I have raised over a billion dollars in the public market. And I also one of the companies I started, I sold it to it, it is a public company, then I sold it to a private capital people for $6.6 billion. So that's kind of a summary of my background.

All right, excellent. And you have an extremely impressive track record, you know, you've accomplished quite a bit. So where did this passion begin?

You know, I came as a, as I said, student, my interest was doing something very innovative. I mean, scientific, because of course, no, when you're young, you always think of creating something wonderful. So that was my interest. Then, as I did a lot of interesting things. Actually, I used to be a traveling throughout the world actually. And more so happened to be more of an a Liaison for United States with the NATO countries, on GPS, because GPS is a weapon system. So but since I was traveling, and my wife is also a physician, so she's very busy working. So it kind of made me to say that maybe I should change my career. And that's how I became a lawyer, because I don't need to travel a lot. So that transition happened, while working with as a lawyer, I started working with very, very smart people, starting companies, you know, very, so I thought maybe I should follow them and became an entrepreneur myself. So passion is more of a transition, the initial was science. But then I knew as you get older, you cannot be that creative. If you go back and look at all the Nobel Prize winners, most of their work 90% of their work was done when they are young, below 30 or around 30. But as you get older, so I knew maybe I'm getting older, so I want to become more of a businessman, not looking at fundamental science. That's that's just kind of an add to what I said.

What do you think was your first step into science as a child

coming back from India? Parents always like people do get good education. So that's that. That's kind of something, you know, is socially, I'm used to so I used to be a good student. I mean, I'm still a good student, but I've been so yes, the good students end up inside It's so in mathematics applied, you know, of course, science is practically mathematics in the sense. So it was good in mathematics. That's how I ended up in. So I wanted to do more like, astrophysics, physics is, you know, solving fundamental questions of the universe or science. So that's how we ended up in.

Do you think your experiences in India may have helped you as a scientist? The culture?

Oh, I don't know, because I was young. Of course, you know, their parents always support or insist you go to school and you study? Well, I mean, that that is very much at least in the the family, friends, I know, you know, because the way the parents think that education is the best way we can give it to the children, because they can use the education to be successful. I still believe in that education is that where to change the world, and people have to be knowledgeable, to do the right thing.

When you say, do the right thing. What do you consider the right thing?

That's, that's a very, very important question. The right thing. In fact, in my religion, they I don't know whether you're that familiar with, there is a scripture called Gita. Bhagavad Gita is, it's 18 chapters in a big scripture called, or Havana, it says, a conversation between the so called the Hindu God, Krishna, and one of the, you know, Arjuna, there was a walk in the VAR scenario, there is a conversation that is the 18 chapters. I mean, it's a it's an interesting story. But the reason I'm bringing up what is the right thing this Arjuna asked Krishna, and ask about, there is a war going on, and I will kill some of my relatives in the war. Is that, you know, I don't want to do it. So tell me what I should do that Krishna tells, look, you have to do the right thing. What is the right thing? You believe in your best judgment? What is the right? You do that without expecting any specific return for you? You know, in any business, there is this concept in America or in the world, the return on the investment? So you do to maximize the return on the investment. So it people sometimes do things wrong, and to get the maximum return. But I don't believe that's the scripture says, That's not the way you should do. You do the right thing without expecting any that payback. But the results will be good for you. It's very hard to say, well, there is nothing written which is right. Like I've been a CEO, on different occasions, for many companies, I follow that principle I do what is good based on the best information I have.

That's a very interesting way of phrasing it. You know, you do what's good based on the information you have, because you could have good people that may not have the most information, and they may accidentally do something in other people's eyes, which may be a bad thing.

That happens, believe me, that always happens there are but you have to, in your own mind, using your common sense. Use that to distinguish whether you're getting the right information. So you have to do your homework. But things can go wrong, that happens. But the right thing is based on your convictions, what you believe that this is the right thing to do. That's, that's a tough, nobody gives you and tell you, these are the right things. These are bad things. No, you have to make the judgment. That's your job.

And that's a very interesting, you know, philosophy that you have. And can you give an example of when you've actually experienced this in your life.

I have to step out of it every step of the way. For example, you know, when I got my admission to college in America, in from India, I had jobs offer from India. I mean, a good, good job offer, you know, my parents were very thrilled that I got it, you know, because they didn't want me to go that far. It's a long way from India and I didn't have any This is 1967 offering no relatives, nobody. So I'm coming to a strange country. strange way. So they said, you know, you now have a good job. You can be very successful. Why go they were not really in support of my generic, but I said that the reason I'm going is not for making money or anything. I mean, of course you need money to live, but I am I got admission to One of the best universities in the world, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, it's in fact, another, you know, I would be working with Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winning physicist. And I'd be working with the greatest mind in the world. So I said, that's what I'm going to do. I mean, of course, I have to convince my parents, it's okay, nothing will happen, I define as an example, I started from there. And I continue to do everything I do I look at is this the right thing to do? And then I go,

As we kind of go more in depth in your career, can you do a few talks about the Acquisition Corp of it?

So that is a very recent back, he says Special Purpose acquisition company, and spec is blank check company, meaning, it does not have a company, there is no no, that thing is done you, you go to the market in to the investors and say, Look, I know what I'm doing. I want to raise money. And I tell them, This is how I am going to, I will find the right company in the space. Like, when I told this back, I told them, I'm going to do in the digital technology, meaning the up and coming or in related artificial intelligence, or anything, which is the state of the art, I'm going to find a company and merge, but I need to raise the cap. So I went and convinced the market, then I went for IPO and raised 230. As a matter of fact, we went for 200 million, we had about a billion dollar on the table, people are ready to invest a billion. I live in Dec. Again, the investment banking people told me do you want to increase your raising capital? So I thought about it, but there is a you know, it's always good and bad. But I made a decision. No, I just use that what's called over allotment, which is 20, 15%. So 230, we raised. So we had a very good support from the investment community, thinking they're not they think, or they thought we would be able to come up with the right to company to merge with which we haven't done yet. I'm in the process, hopefully it will happen. Soon, as soon as, once it is I then only I can disclose it, I will make the announcement. And that's the confidence they had in, you know, the artifacts, I'm like that, of course, they thought I have a good experience what I have done, and now it's like a conventional IPO or then three conventional, which means you have a real company, and you go to the SEC and say that look, there is an S-1 registration in Ghana, a lot of regulatory requirements. And but they are looking primarily at the numbers in how much money you renew, how much profit or how much, the things like that, and based on that you can raise them here in the spec world, no revenue, nothing, but they are looking at the team is good. So they will bring the right connection, or the merger or these back and bring the company to the public.

So from what I understand one company brings together more of the money aspect, you bring together more of the people aspect, and then they come together.

Yes, but they don't, in this De-merger. They don't go to any investment, they just come to us and we make an agreement, and then it automatically becomes public general. An IPO is one company with one step going public here, the company is already public and raise the capital, and we bring the company to it and De-merge it so it's an easier process rather than the conventional IPO process.

And you can just explain what the De-merging is?

The merging combination that is our company like for example, we have this innovative international Acquisition Corp is that the company which is actually registered in Cayman Islands, the reason is most companies are registered in Delaware in the US, but the reason we did it, we may have a potential company outside the US and if it is, if a company's outside the US to bring it together makes it a little bit more it can be done. It will have done it can do it. But it is more cumbersome. Because if you start with the Cayman or an outside company, then the De-merging will become much simpler because the regulatory requirements filing papers that make it much simpler, and it's faster so So that's the reason we did it. And now once we find the company, could be anywhere, Euro, Asia doesn't matter, then we bring the we meet again, you have to go through the regulatory requirements like filing the, what we call S four. And if it is overseas stuff, sometimes f4, that papers have to be filed. And also they have to make sure that everything is done properly, then you have to get a shareholder approve it, our shareholders have to say, Okay, this is a good merger, or this is the right company. And once you get approved, then it become listed in the that's the process.

So I think this is a great stage to actually get into your experience in stamps.com, as well, you were the founding chairman, can you get into that as well?

Yes, certainly, I actually I, the place I'm sitting, that's where I started the company that was 25 years ago, at the time, I started doing research myself, now applying for everything for myself. And when it's only two, I came up with the so called patent application for E-commerce, that three or four patterns in that space. And all of them are like foundational patterns. In the E-commerce now you see ecommerce everywhere in the whole world is in the E-commerce space. But when I started, there was practically no, no internet, internet is just starting, I saw the growth in that space. And I created that, you know, technology, or platform, which is basically very, very simple, even looking back, but at the time, it was not understood. It is a very secured communication, through internet. And to make sure, like if you know the SAS or the software, so is that's thing, you're basically providing the the capability to a customer, but you you're kind of a you know, you're the developer or the provider in charge, but they can use it. And but you control. So you know how they use it. So that technology was developed, of course, there will be mazing new broom and subsequently, but mine is more like a foundational party with that patent is how the stamps, the stamps, the concept is, I don't know whether you're familiar with Pitney Bowes machine Frankish, which of course is a machine which has a gadget, which, which then you can print stamps. So it's a cube, because of the gadget. I said, you don't need it yet. You can use any, any computer and do the same thing, which is really the because you're printing money. Now, of course, you can't do it without the approval of the United States Postal Service. In either they approve, or they don't if they approve, you're in good shape. But if they don't approve, you have no way to go. But this technology is the way you could do it. Because you can securely print money. And you can control I mean, you know, of course you can print meaning you have you can clearly identify who did it. How did how much you know, everything is is you can control or somebody can no meaning the whoever the authorizing person can. But anyway, that technology was developed. And it is a it's a very hard job to convince, of course, you have to raise capital to start a company. But nobody would. When I went and talked to many venture firms. They were they liked it. But they said they can't put any money in because, you know, USPS has not done any new technology. And if they don't approve, you're out of it. So if they get the approval, you get the approval, then come back, we can talk about it. But anyway, that so I had to put my own money into it. But even then, talk to the USPS. And of course, finally we got the hard work, they approved and then things start evolving. And the company that.

After this, you sort of got into telemedicine.

Telemedicine is another of course, in my opinion, the it's the most innovative thing, the recent being the practice of medicine over the last however years we know has been similar people go to the doctor and in my family. We have a lot of doctors. My wife is a physician, she's a neurologist. And my son is a neurosurgeon. And I have a many relatives, a lot of, in fact, in my family have close family, there are 27 physicians, and also a lot of friends we meet, there are physicians, we talk about medicare things, but the actual service providing service healthcare service is not changed very much. People go to the doctor doctor looks at and they prescribe and things like that. So I thought maybe one of the things to think about is using technology in healthcare. So that is when we started the so called second reading, you don't need to go to anybody use the telemedicine platform, of course, the pandemic made it very, very much needed, because in order to go, and that is happening, and that company is going to be an expert is doing very well. They provide various kinds of remote services in in fact, now one of the things they're working with is the remote sensors, various which people can have, so they don't need to go to the emergency room, they don't need to go to the hospitals, if something happens, because remotely, the physicians or the team can check on it and make sure and then they can provide the appropriate service without really transporting the patient. Unless of course, it is serious, something very important. But otherwise, about 70 to 80% can be all taken care of in a remote environment. So the telemedicine is the I think it will be the future for the medicine.

Kind of we could go back more into your own personal life. How did it feel like being an immigrant?

Yes, I wrote a book either as the this book is called Autobiography of an immigrant it has, of course, you can get a book meaning digital book, you can get a hardcover, and you can also get a softcover. And also it has a audiobook. So you can, you know, just listen to. So those are all available. And in Amazon. And I think it's available in Barnes and Noble, I mean different places. In fact, I recently got the same book published in India, with another publisher is invincible, I kind of tell my life story as an immigrant in that book. So I'm like an open book, anybody reads anything. So it is a it's an interesting, I have personally not experienced any discrimination. However, I have seen quite a bit of discrimination seen, not through myself. But in many ways, in many areas. Of course, when you come as a young student, you don't know anybody. And you just have to, you know, make sure that you act accordingly to get, you know, people like you have a desire that somebody people like you so that you don't get treated bad. So which was not that difficult for me because it's a very simple and very active as a student in a very beautiful city, Pasadena, they all looked fine and no problem. But as I start seeing things, especially the discrimination, not really against immigrant, alone or immigrant, people of color. So I started seeing that, and you feel kind of that it affects you, things have changed. I was racist again in 1964 with your Bobby Kennedy or his election, I was a victory speech and I was few feet away. And that meaning after the speech within 15 minutes, we got killed. So those are very interesting experience. It just kind of stated in my book, what kind of reaction I have, based on all those events. I mean, it's a it's a great journey, no question about it, but things are improving. But it is more.

This has been an excellent interview. Thank you.

Thank you. Your questions are so good. I'm I was not planning to discuss these things. Think about it. But since you brought up, you kind of triggered a certain thing, and I'm responding to.

No problem, you get very good responses to thank you.

Thank you.

And, you know, just to end this off, are there any final words you'd like to give to the audience any final pieces?

I mean, you know, my advice to anybody, whether you're young, middle aged or old, you should do what you like, the best, whatever they, I think, do what you want to do. Don't worry about other things. So same thing from in person, whatever your interest is, you sharpen it, enjoy and do it. Same thing in the people in the middle. Of course, we are happy, continue to do but if you want to do something, there is no other experience. It won't be later. There is nothing different is going. You want something to it.

Alright, well, thank you. This has been an excellent interview. You've given some wonderful advice. You've answered some, you've given some great answers. Appreciate it.

Excellent. You of course you are. You are. You must be talking to many people that you come across all kinds of different types of people. And you're so young and energetic. I want you the best in your group. I thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk.

All right, appreciate. So Okay. Thank you all for listening. And we just have to do a few shout outs here. The first thing is 6figure University. These are a group of entrepreneurs focused on teaching you how to make six figures. Check them out on their website, 6figure University. All right. And then we've got Judy from Lifework Systems. She's one of our collaborative partners and she basically helps improve business infrastructure and HR superstar. And you also have a YouTube channel subscribe to us now. We're growing in subscribers. You're helping us out here guys, so just keep on subscribing. And additionally, we have a Roku TV channel. Check us out. This episode will also be on Roku TV as well. Thank you again for watching us. Thank you for listening to the Jimbo Paris show.