The Eighties and Nineties were foundational years for labor arbitrage in the software business. It was an era of easy money. I acquired a fledgling software business engaged in developing a product in a difficult domain called bank treasury. We built a large development team that drank all our resources for three years and developed a client-server solution. At every stage we lacked funding, we lost people, and product engineering suffered. We did some labor arbitrage and we made some easy money but our hearts and souls were in the irrational struggle. We implemented it in five countries and we were leaders in India. We were proud but we hardly made any money.

Looking back I realise this irrational streak was a habit. I knew little about art and hardly visited shows, yet I got into the art business based on two chance encounters in 1988. There was no market information and no possibility of a financial projection. My MBA training highlighted risks and threats, and my zero exposure to art, but all I could see was opportunity. We lost money for some years but at no time did we want to give up. To this day I consider it my best leap into the dark.