Eating at one was the only exposure we (and our ancestors) ever had to restaurants. A bottle of old monk and some incisive bitching about our jobs on one fateful 2003 evening convinced us to open a restaurant. We named it FAASO’S - Fanatic Activism Against Substandard Occidental Shit - just so that it kept reminding us how crap burgers and pizzas were. So we decided to sell only desi stuff - rolls, kebabs and the likes. Close to heart, close to tongue, no issues if maid didn't turn up to make food at home. Period.
The one restaurant in Pune became 6 by 2010. In the meanwhile, we dabbled in MBA at INSEAD, consulting at Mckinsey London, selling enterprise software at Bosch Singapore and similar useless pursuits. Finally, last year it dawned–the queer little thing called Faasos was the true calling. So, we left everything, came back and started expanding the concept.
Much has changed in the last year. Notable among them are, 18 more outlets in Pune and Mumbai, a first round funding from Sequoia Capital, heightened blood pressure, and an ingrained habit of day dreaming about 1000 stores and IPO.
As we are putting up 2 stores a month in Mumbai and hatching plans to make the rate 5 a month, we realize that we need a bunch of maniacs to pull this off - People who are in a hurry, never had anything to do with restaurants, love pounding the streets, can't manage hunger, and can tell balance sheet from P&L. And yes, dream incessantly about running a company one day.
So, we are starting a program called FER - Faasos Entrepreneur in Residence. We are not hung up on the name, suggestions are welcome. Basically, we need folks, who will come on board, rotate through running a store, an area, a couple of other functions for 6 months and then assume P&L responsibility of either running 15-20 stores or opening new markets or running a function like Marketing or HR. Eventually (TATAs are not a good example of how long this will take), they will manage a city, a region, a country. Throughout this journey, they will report directly to the CEO, until the CEO starts reporting to one of them.
What we can't promise is a very systematic and standardized experience with calendar entries 6 months in advance. What is guaranteed is a hell of a fun ride with you in charge of a boat with plenty of manufacturing defects (well we made the boat after all!!)
So, if you had made a sub-optimal decision to do an MBA about 3-4 years back and are realizing it now based on 1-2 years of post MBA absurdities, then do write to us. But, please write a smallish paragraph about you and your intentions (including hidden agendas) in the email itself. No word cv or ppts pls. We have banned attachments (we use them only when we meet Sequoia).
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Jaydeep (jaydeep@faasos.com)
