A Note from Ute

Hi Everyone!

First and foremost, thank you for checking out my new website.  I really appreciate it.  In this inaugural post, I was just hoping to give everyone an update on my journey and the reason for starting Understanding The Enterprise.

Background:

This is a journey that is twenty years in the making.  I started my career at a firm called A.G. Edwards in St. Louis, MO back in 2004.  I spent a couple of years in the healthcare investment banking group.  The main focus was equity offerings in the space.  I gained exposure to the IPO process for a couple of biotech companies and gained an appreciation for St. Louis!

I am originally from the Chicago-land area.  I grew up the western suburbs.  So after my two year analyst stint in St. Louis, I moved back to Chicago and joined BMO Capital Markets’ Food & Consumer group.  This fortuitous opportunity allowed me to meet one of the few bosses in my career that taught me so much of what I know today, Todd Giles.  He was a mentor, and more importantly a big brother to me.  Todd was also one of the first people to encourage me to pursue this dream, when I was in a very uncertain time and space in my life.  During this time period from 2006 – 2009, I experienced a red-hot M&A market, and of course the collapse of 2008.  It was here that I realized I had a passion for the more technical / modeling aspects of the job.  So, I thought it would be interesting to learn the world of M&A Tax.

I pursued an executive Masters of Tax program from the University of Illinois’ Chicago campus.  Upon completion, I was fortunate enough to land a role in PwC’s M&A Tax group in Chicago.  I learned the diligence process for deals from a tax perspective.  I also learned that I did not have a deep passion for the world of tax.  Which is what it takes to get to the upper echelon of that career path.

Why Teaching:

What I did realize was, I had a passion for teaching.  When I was at BMO, I always enjoyed the opportunity to help train the junior analysts in Excel, financial modeling and valuation.  Even if it meant staying late, to help more junior team members, I actually did not mind.  So, with that, I spent the next eight years as an instructor teaching excel, financial modeling and valuation.  It was an incredibly fulfilling experience and brought me a lot of joy.

Another Stint as a Practitioner:

However, a part of me still had the itch to try my hand as a practitioner once again.  I was fortunate to land an opportunity at Archer Daniels Midland during the middle of the pandemic.  I joined their Corporate Development and M&A group.  I spent a couple of years focusing on deal evaluation and execution.  From there, I wanted to gain exposure to the core finance function of the firm.  I joined the Financial Planning & Analysis group focused on Health & Wellness. 

It was an interesting experience, however all roads led back to the realization that nothing was more fulfilling to me than sharing my experiences and knowledge with others.  One observation from my career is that many practitioners are not great teachers.  To a certain extent, why should they be?  Many of them built their success in the school of hard knocks and expect the same from you.  Others, just might not know the answer to your questions, but will not admit it.  A lot of my professional experience has been late nights and knowledge gained through the cliché of blood, sweat and tears (lots of tears).  My background was accounting, and I was great at writing papers on auditor independence, but could not balance a balance sheet to save my life.  Now, twenty years into my career, I can safely say that I have my Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours of balancing models.  I am hoping that I can help others learn the same in a much shorter amount of time. 

“In the joy of others, lies our own” – a quote from my guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj:

I always kept my teaching chops fresh, as I am on faculty at Auburn University.  This has been an incredibly fulfilling experience, and I am privileged to work with so many smart, talented and hard-working students.  I owe a huge thanks for this opportunity to Tracy Richard, who has been such an instrumental and driving force for good in so many aspects at Auburn.  It is so rare to meet someone so dedicated to the success and development of students.  I, along with a whole host of students, owe her a debt of gratitude for what she has built at Auburn.  For all my students (Auburn and beyond), my main hope is that they are able to showcase their natural talents, efforts and perseverance during internships or full-time roles.  I hope to provide all participants the key foundational knowledge so that they are not completely reliant on others for their career development and advancement.  I know what it is like to rely on the generosity of others to learn how to build a financial model.  I was lucky to find a mentor like Todd, that taught and challenged me.  However, for every mentor like Todd, there were scores of folks that were not as generous.  It is a tough way to develop the necessary skills for a career in business.  I just want the participants in my classes to avoid some of the same pitfalls that I navigated. 

My Daughter:

For a long time, I have had the urge to hang my own shingle and start my own firm.  Do things as Sinatra (or Usher) would say, my way!  Last year, brought about many changes in my life.  The most poignant was the birth of our first child.  Our beautiful baby girl.  This has also led me to be more introspective about life.  I have been thinking about how my actions (and inaction) will impact my daughter.  I always want her to know that I will always be there for her.  However, the lesson that I hope to teach her is that you should never be afraid to try!

It became incredibly clear to me, that if I did not try to fight through my own inertia and launch my own firm, I would regret it forever, but even more – I would have failed to show my daughter an important life lesson.  Maybe the pre-daughter version of me would have continued meandering through my career without a true passion, however the parent version of me would not be able to look myself in the mirror if I did that.  The more I think about it, the more it is clear that the catalyst for this endeavor is my daughter.

Win, lose or draw, the launch of Understanding The Enterprise is dedicated to my little girl and would not be possible without my incredibly supportive wife.  It cannot be easy to be a new-mom in such an uncertain time and adding the uncertainty of your husband’s new venture.  I am very appreciative of the encouragement she has provided.  Success is never guaranteed, but to me at this stage in my life – the pursuit of a dream is definitely worth the effort.  I look forward to pouring my heart and soul into the venture, my classes and supporting the participants that give me an opportunity to share my knowledge.

Many Thanks:

On a side note, you might be wondering how I arrived at the name Understanding The Enterprise – well the acronym UTE (pronounced – Ooh-Tee) has stuck with me since 3^rd grade!  Not too many Utkarsh’s in the panhandle of Nebraska – so a big thanks to all of my old classmates that bestowed such a great nickname on me.

Finally, I just want to say thank you for visiting the website.  Thank you for reading this blog post.  I teach Excel shortcuts, Excel functionality, financial modeling and valuation.  I would definitely appreciate your consideration for any training needs that you or your organization might have.  Most importantly, to all of the past participants in my courses – thanks again for the opportunity to present to you, and I truly wish you success in your career and happiness!

Thank you for your time!

Utkarsh “Ute” Bhagat