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Editorial Reviews
Review
In Imposters at the Gate, Aseem Giri transports the reader into the heart of the World of Private Equity, immersing us in the excitement that motivates financial professionals to seek this career path: Earning wealth through the value one contributes to a Company created through the vision, hard work and dreams of others. The challenge that Aseem masterfully achieves is convincingly transporting us to this World in the form of a thoroughly accessible and delightful page-turner, without losing the essence (the thrills and the conflicts) that makes this career path so seductive. I also love the way Aseem conveys thrill - and the challenge- of Private Equity through an Ayn Randesque contrast between value-creators (Ash, David, Samuel, Benson and Max) who embody Private Equity's virtues and the "Looters" (Lasi, Eddie and the Elves) who embody its temptations/conflicts - who extract any value produced by companies they invest for their own self-interest. Imposters at The Gate's Looters do this through the publicly-held vehicle of Popular Capital, a "multi-billion dollar" private equity firm headed by Lasi, who built Popular Capital "from scratch, figuring out clever ways to get people to part with their money". Lasi's description is reminiscent of Mr. Thompson in Atlas Shrugged: "Lasi looked like a man of the people. He blended into a crowd. He had no discerning characteristics". I was delighted when Aseem artfully rewards fans of Atlas Shrugged by having Ash, who tragically fails to create virtue while he is a Partner in Popular Capital (a tragic and unwilling servant of the Looters like Dagny Taggart and Hank Reardon in Atlas Shrugged), sees the light through his love for Sophie who tells him that she loves him, but cannot stay with him unless he leaves Popular Capital. . .I could only smile when Ash completes the transformation - unmasking Popular Capital by posing as an "Mr A. Yand Rand from Fountainhead Capital" on their Investor call. I strongly recommend Imposters at the Gate - and commend Aseem Giri for his achievement and Tusk Publishing for its vision in bringing this work to light. I look forward to reading more of Giri's work, and reviewing future Tusk Publishing publications. --Pavlos Mavrides, Partner, Provident Group
A hugely successful yet restless financier breaks free and learns lessons that money can't buy. Over the past five years from his home in Los Angeles, Ashwin "Ash" Gyan has generated eight million dollars in revenue for Popular Capital, a publicly-traded New York private-equity firm. And his efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Ash is swiftly promoted to firm partner after he closes the biggest deal of his career. But he remains dissatisfied and despondent, unable to appreciate his newfound success in the financial marketplace. After a sluggish start, Giri (obviously drawing from his own experience as a young Wall Street success story) creates a whirlwind of executive trouble for his harmless, good-natured protagonist. Ash's mentor, Samuel, encourages him to move on to a different company, but Ash remains overworked and grossly underpaid by Popular Capital's autocratic president and founder, Lasi. Ash's pleas for perks and fair compensation garner nothing, leading him to opportunities managing other company's capital funds independently (with aid from contemporaries Benson and Max), until duplicitous actions (and an insurance-related disaster) by "friendly" associates throw a wrench into their plans. All's not lost for Ash, though, and Popular Capital's eventual downfall proves sweet revenge. Giri does a commendable job of creating a believable supporting cast, from the deplorable (calculated associate Eddie Cache and deceitful CEO Lasi) to the adorable (Ash's romantic interest, Sophie). Readers unfamiliar with the financial-services industry may get lost in the jargon and acrobatics of this complex trade, but the office politics prove compelling. The clunky start gives way to a lively, entertaining story about the intoxicating allure of money. --Kirkus
Have some serious money to invest? What kind of people are investing it for you? IMPOSTERS AT THE GATE offers some provocative answers in a light, fictional envelope. While most of us stick to IRAs and mutual funds, a few of us have big bucks to put into venture capital. Even if you don t, you might appreciate having a peek into the mysterious world of venture capital and the private equity firms that pour huge amounts of other people s money into these highly speculative investments. By writing a novel rather than a dry tome, Mr. Giri (who became a partner in a large private equity firm at a young age and has a keen grasp of the business) gives the reader a simulated peek into the day-to-day behind-the-scenes world of a private equity firm, revealing truths that are disturbing, educational, and occasionally hilarious. The narrative follows a talented young man, Ash Gyan, who shifts his career from investment banking to venture capital, and eventually enters and makes partner in a firm run by a former communist turned aggressive capitalist. Becoming rapidly disillusioned with his new company, Gyan gets together with two other young men to launch a business of their own. The story of the protagonist's progress through the industry teaches the lay reader quite a bit about the nature of private equity firms. "Venture capital is like going to Vegas and laying down twenty bets," one of the books characters declares. "You know that with each one you are trying to hit it big, looking for a payout of twenty to thirty to one. So as long as [at least] one hits, even if the others tank, you are golden." The portrait the author draws of the players that control the firm where Gyan works is more than a little chilling. Key players are obsessed with superficial numbers and data rather than the real dynamics of the businesses they invest in or the character of the people that run them. They cover up their own disastrous decisions by taking credit for the success of underlings, pad expenses ridiculously, and even cook the books to cover their mistakes! Imposters at the Gate is not Masterpiece Theater lit, and Mr. Giri s novel starts a bit slowly. However, although the book has some of the faults to be expected from a new author, it is better written than most first novels, and Giri manages to tell an intriguing tale around his core subject. Given the current economic climate, in which the supposedly secure alternatives to private equity, hedge funds and derivatives, are looking more and more precarious; venture capital is drawing more attention these days. Even if you don t have a few million to play with in this casino, you may enjoy a privileged peek into the world in which this money moves-- and find this an entertaining read. --J. Rod Clark, BookReview.com
Product Description
Despite having little patience for numbers, Ash Gyan wanted nothing more than to be a proverbial king of capitalism by having a successful career in private equity, the pinnacle of finance. His first two attempts to launch this career, after spending time as an investment banker, ended as false starts when the groups where he worked ceased operating. He had no choice but to go to the only place he could get a job, even if it meant joining a firm started by a former communist.
See all Editorial Reviews
In Imposters at the Gate, Aseem Giri transports the reader into the heart of the World of Private Equity, immersing us in the excitement that motivates financial professionals to seek this career path: Earning wealth through the value one contributes to a Company created through the vision, hard work and dreams of others. The challenge that Aseem masterfully achieves is convincingly transporting us to this World in the form of a thoroughly accessible and delightful page-turner, without losing the essence (the thrills and the conflicts) that makes this career path so seductive. I also love the way Aseem conveys thrill - and the challenge- of Private Equity through an Ayn Randesque contrast between value-creators (Ash, David, Samuel, Benson and Max) who embody Private Equity's virtues and the "Looters" (Lasi, Eddie and the Elves) who embody its temptations/conflicts - who extract any value produced by companies they invest for their own self-interest. Imposters at The Gate's Looters do this through the publicly-held vehicle of Popular Capital, a "multi-billion dollar" private equity firm headed by Lasi, who built Popular Capital "from scratch, figuring out clever ways to get people to part with their money". Lasi's description is reminiscent of Mr. Thompson in Atlas Shrugged: "Lasi looked like a man of the people. He blended into a crowd. He had no discerning characteristics". I was delighted when Aseem artfully rewards fans of Atlas Shrugged by having Ash, who tragically fails to create virtue while he is a Partner in Popular Capital (a tragic and unwilling servant of the Looters like Dagny Taggart and Hank Reardon in Atlas Shrugged), sees the light through his love for Sophie who tells him that she loves him, but cannot stay with him unless he leaves Popular Capital. . .I could only smile when Ash completes the transformation - unmasking Popular Capital by posing as an "Mr A. Yand Rand from Fountainhead Capital" on their Investor call. I strongly recommend Imposters at the Gate - and commend Aseem Giri for his achievement and Tusk Publishing for its vision in bringing this work to light. I look forward to reading more of Giri's work, and reviewing future Tusk Publishing publications. --Pavlos Mavrides, Partner, Provident Group
A hugely successful yet restless financier breaks free and learns lessons that money can't buy. Over the past five years from his home in Los Angeles, Ashwin "Ash" Gyan has generated eight million dollars in revenue for Popular Capital, a publicly-traded New York private-equity firm. And his efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Ash is swiftly promoted to firm partner after he closes the biggest deal of his career. But he remains dissatisfied and despondent, unable to appreciate his newfound success in the financial marketplace. After a sluggish start, Giri (obviously drawing from his own experience as a young Wall Street success story) creates a whirlwind of executive trouble for his harmless, good-natured protagonist. Ash's mentor, Samuel, encourages him to move on to a different company, but Ash remains overworked and grossly underpaid by Popular Capital's autocratic president and founder, Lasi. Ash's pleas for perks and fair compensation garner nothing, leading him to opportunities managing other company's capital funds independently (with aid from contemporaries Benson and Max), until duplicitous actions (and an insurance-related disaster) by "friendly" associates throw a wrench into their plans. All's not lost for Ash, though, and Popular Capital's eventual downfall proves sweet revenge. Giri does a commendable job of creating a believable supporting cast, from the deplorable (calculated associate Eddie Cache and deceitful CEO Lasi) to the adorable (Ash's romantic interest, Sophie). Readers unfamiliar with the financial-services industry may get lost in the jargon and acrobatics of this complex trade, but the office politics prove compelling. The clunky start gives way to a lively, entertaining story about the intoxicating allure of money. --Kirkus
Have some serious money to invest? What kind of people are investing it for you? IMPOSTERS AT THE GATE offers some provocative answers in a light, fictional envelope. While most of us stick to IRAs and mutual funds, a few of us have big bucks to put into venture capital. Even if you don t, you might appreciate having a peek into the mysterious world of venture capital and the private equity firms that pour huge amounts of other people s money into these highly speculative investments. By writing a novel rather than a dry tome, Mr. Giri (who became a partner in a large private equity firm at a young age and has a keen grasp of the business) gives the reader a simulated peek into the day-to-day behind-the-scenes world of a private equity firm, revealing truths that are disturbing, educational, and occasionally hilarious. The narrative follows a talented young man, Ash Gyan, who shifts his career from investment banking to venture capital, and eventually enters and makes partner in a firm run by a former communist turned aggressive capitalist. Becoming rapidly disillusioned with his new company, Gyan gets together with two other young men to launch a business of their own. The story of the protagonist's progress through the industry teaches the lay reader quite a bit about the nature of private equity firms. "Venture capital is like going to Vegas and laying down twenty bets," one of the books characters declares. "You know that with each one you are trying to hit it big, looking for a payout of twenty to thirty to one. So as long as [at least] one hits, even if the others tank, you are golden." The portrait the author draws of the players that control the firm where Gyan works is more than a little chilling. Key players are obsessed with superficial numbers and data rather than the real dynamics of the businesses they invest in or the character of the people that run them. They cover up their own disastrous decisions by taking credit for the success of underlings, pad expenses ridiculously, and even cook the books to cover their mistakes! Imposters at the Gate is not Masterpiece Theater lit, and Mr. Giri s novel starts a bit slowly. However, although the book has some of the faults to be expected from a new author, it is better written than most first novels, and Giri manages to tell an intriguing tale around his core subject. Given the current economic climate, in which the supposedly secure alternatives to private equity, hedge funds and derivatives, are looking more and more precarious; venture capital is drawing more attention these days. Even if you don t have a few million to play with in this casino, you may enjoy a privileged peek into the world in which this money moves-- and find this an entertaining read. --J. Rod Clark, BookReview.com
Product Description
Despite having little patience for numbers, Ash Gyan wanted nothing more than to be a proverbial king of capitalism by having a successful career in private equity, the pinnacle of finance. His first two attempts to launch this career, after spending time as an investment banker, ended as false starts when the groups where he worked ceased operating. He had no choice but to go to the only place he could get a job, even if it meant joining a firm started by a former communist.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
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