AR
Arnavi Ops

Mission Control

Meeting Notes

Arvin Call

Back to meetings

Arvin Call

Tue, Jan 6, 2026, 11:00 AM31m

Participants (3)

arvin.datwani@victorytime.onmicrosoft.comsudhakar.raj@victorytime.onmicrosoft.comarnavi@victorytime.onmicrosoft.com

🎯 Action Items (6)

1
Submit a detailed write-up on proposed guidance and restructuring to improve UK business operations and sales approach@Arvin Datwani
2
Coordinate with Madhukar and Arnavi to align efforts for UK business growth and clarify roles/responsibilities moving forward@Arvin Datwani
3
Facilitate communication between customers and Bangladesh team, monitor responses and flag any service or communication issues for resolution@Arvin Datwani
4
Organize a meeting with all relevant parties including Arvin, Stephanie, Priyanka, Arnavi, and Madhukar to review Arvin’s write-up and discuss actionable changes@Sudhakar Raj
5
Ensure upcoming UK trips by the design and sales teams are contingent on having multiple confirmed meetings to justify expenses@Sudhakar Raj
6
Maintain strict separation of UK sales team role (customer acquisition) and Bangladesh office role (order execution and merchandising) and communicate this clearly to all teams@Sudhakar Raj
📋 Summary
  • Sales Focus for Arvin: Arvin will concentrate on customer acquisition, aiming for at least $10 million turnover by year-end.
  • Operational Structure Defined: Team roles clarified; Arvin handles sales while Bangladesh team manages pricing and operational tasks.
  • Performance Urgency: Six-month deadline set to improve UK sales or face leadership changes; UK operation lacks new customers for two years.
  • Financial Accountability: No salary raises without increased business; low current volume jeopardizes Arvin's role and UK operation viability.
  • Growth Beyond Mountain Warehouse: Need to secure five additional customers to justify UK presence; larger retailers require local operations for entry.
  • Travel Optimization Required: Team travel to UK contingent on confirmed customer meetings; past trips criticized for lack of business outcomes.
  • 📝 Full Transcript
    I think it's been a big win for developing Mountain Warehouse because Mountain Warehouse, they're a blue chip company. They have 400 shops globally. They're profitable. I think they made maybe 30, 40 million profit there was. Their revenue is half a billion US dollars per year. So in terms of Mountain Warehouse, it seems to me that they're a growing company. They're great in terms of what they do and they fit with the Athleisure west side. And so, so, so I think that, that, that, that has been a good victory for us. You know, it's a question of how to grow the business, you know, to, to get the volumes going because there is potential to do a couple of million US dollars per year with them. Because obviously we just had our first season and now we're, you know, into, into autumn, winter. So that's from there. Now I feel that we need to progress to bigger, to bigger things because the onboarding process was a situation with them. It was our first time. There was the Vitrus audit, there was a Setx audit, but Fortis passed everything. So I think from that front, we're okay. You know, so that, that's the situation. Also, I wanted to speak to you about the structure actually of how it's, it's, it's, it's, it's running because I think working with Two Head, working with Babu, working with Santo is great. I think they're all very professional. I think the whole merchandising and how that's going. We delivered our orders on time. We passed the VTRUS audit, which is AQL 1.5 for final inspection. Everything is good. But the situation with the structure of how the account is handled, I feel that there isn't, there is an sop In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In place. Because I just, I, I feel that we're not, especially for me and Steph, we're not using our ability as, as, as, as much as we can. Because I find that, you know, from the sales and marketing side, it wants to be handled from, from, from Bangladesh. But I think that Steph and I, with Mountain Warehouse and with the future. With, with. With. With. With. With. With the future. I don't understand. I, I don't understand. Can you explain what you're trying to say? Okay, so what I'm saying is that when it comes to showing the product, quoting prices, developments and all those things up to pos, I think that's where Steph and I should be involved. Once it comes to purchase orders, then, you know, the merchandising team takes over. But that's not, that's, that's not happening now. So like what is happening? What is happening now? What's happening now? People are just replying. So I'll reply to some messages, Steph will reply to some messages and then you know, RNAV will reply to messages, the merchandising team will reply to messages. So and also when it, when it came to quoting prices, you know, we weren't involved in quoting prices. Although I have so much time and I know that, you know some of the team were busy when the buyers wanted prices, you know, pretty soon. So the thing is that we were told that, you know, we're not, we can't quote prices, we can't work with the team to quote prices and things like that. So I just feel a bit tied in terms of, you know, working, working with the account, developing the account and things such as that. Why do you want to quote the price? I'm not going to allow you to put prices. You are a marketing harm of my company. No, your job is to, your job is to get, get us more customers. Your, you don't know, you don't understand a product cost. How will you quote the price to the customer? But this is not how we are structured. We have a costing, we have a costing division. We have a division, we have a marketing division. That three division coexist together. When, when there is a marketing problem, you are you as a representative of the company, you are you or Stephanie, whatever it is, you. Stephanie is extension of you. You as a you in UK are. Your job is to make the get us the foot in the door in terms of the customer and then after that the whole team takes over. You are a one man show. You can't take care of all these things and I don't understand why, why should it be how it is that the SOP is not established. Once the order is done, your job is over. Once the order is, the team will take over the whole thing. It's nothing to do with you. I'm not, you are not here. I'm not having a person sitting in UK to check whether the level went on time, whether the PP went on time, whether a sample 1 of the time. You are, this is not your job. Your job is to get me five more, five more mountain warehouses. Your job is not to service the customer. Your job is to get me five more mounted warehouses. I have 250 people working here to service, service the customer. In this of humans. You have come here, you've Seen how big we have here. We have more than 250 people. So somebody to sit in UK and it's just. Just you see. So I. And if my team find, if. If the team here is lacking in. In a way to service the particular customer that is something you or Nami Madhukar can discuss and streamline that. But the customer will be handled from here, not you. We don't have offices in UK as yet. We have a salesman in UK as in when tomorrow we become a 20 million dollar company. We have an office in UK we have a team of five, seven people sitting there. Then we. If we if requires to be. If the production is being controlled from that office, maybe that will happen then. But in current scenario I don't want your concentration to be on how to execute an order or how to handle. You just see two years you've been working for us. How much we don't even have done one half a million pounds of business in the last two years that you are now working for us. We have not even booked orders for. For $2 million business. Your. Your. Your Stephanie's focus should be on increasing and getting more and more customer. We have designers, we have merchandisers. They will present, they will go and travel and make one presentation, two presentation, 10 presentations to a customer. It's not your job. Your job is. Your team is to there to support you. You are you on this basis, on the. On this strength you need to go and knock 20, 30 doors open doors for us tomorrow. We are. We are a 10, 20 million turnaround company and we have a proper office in UK then things might. Things the operation might change. Right now from what I see about your operation, you guys are haggling more about who to. Who will answer this or who will not answer this. I am not expecting you to answer any customer. You my team will answer the customer. If the mic team is making a mistake or in understanding what the customer wants, that's where you come in to to solve a problem or to put out a fire. If there is a fire going on. On a day to day operation there are. I get people for £200, 100 quid, 200 quid a month. Who. Who can communicate and handle this part with the customer. I don't want you to go and do that. I want you. I want you and Stephanie to be. If you see last week I gave a mail also that now that they are the whole design team is now preparing. They spent two weeks in China for shopping and now they're prepared arranged to show off the customer. Who all which all customers are we meeting? If it is only Mountain warehouse, I am not spending this money to sending my team there. It's based on money for the last two years. My team is going coming. What? How many? What we have? What we have in result we have 2030000 pieces of sales. That's about it. You'll not win any money. No, I. I understand. I understand. I understand where you understand where you're coming from. The thing is the last. So I would request you to please stop squibbling about SOP XY Zumzazi. I am not. I'm not. I'm. I'm not. Palak Said my company in UK is zero. When we have turnover then we can talk about SOPs. We can talk about systems. We have a decent team working for you. Whatever orders have come, we have delivered. Costings are going. The whole team is working very hard. We need you guys to. To be our eyes and ears and get us entering to more doors. Open more doors for us. That is what your job is. That's not SOP and things like that. That's not your. I am not looking you to answer my customer's email. I'm you. I you. I'm looking for you. The customer will send an email. You will read it. And when my team from here will answer, you will read it. If you see any mistake, anything lacking, you will call my team. Tell him it looks like this is a problem. Let's sort it out. Beyond that on a day to day communication. I'm not looking for you guys to get involved with us any which way on a day to day handling. I hope I'm making myself clear. You're making yourself very clear. I understand. You know the thing is what I can say is. You know I'm not making an excuse but the first year I. I followed Mohit, you know with a boohoo meeting we could have developed boohoo but he took the meeting. You know for the first year I. I followed Mohit's direction. The reason why we developed M Mountain warehouse is because the second. The second year I decided. I mean what happened, What Mohit did, what Mohit did not do, what Alabi did, what Al did do. Let us not talk about what we did in the past. Let us move forward. We have a foot into the door in the US market. In the UK market now. Okay. From. From now it is first week of January. We have a foot into the door. Madhukar is the boss of this department. Yes. Arabi will look after UK business in totality. And if tomorrow business becomes well, she will live in UK if the need be. She will see is it is her baby. You. If you want to be part of this growth, if you want to with this part of this team, please get me more customers in this. And to this customer, your job or Stephanie's job or any other Stephanie or Mario, whoever we h in times to come. Their job is to open more doors. Execution part will be taken care from this part of the office till we can afford. Till there is a turnover enough we can afford to open have an office in uk. This is what my focus is. Whether it is boohoo or what Mohit did. Everybody you worked hard. Mohit worked hard. Everybody worked hard. I'm not saying so. Not that Mohit did not work hard or you work hard or AR is not working hard or Babu is not working. We all have worked hard. Okay? It did not happen the way it should have happened. But now we have a foot in the door. Please look forward into this situation. Please look forward in those situation. And I want your emphasis and focus now that one Mountain Warehouse one order. We have the order that door that is already open. Let the team handle the door that business. You please get me five more customers where I can. We can, we can at least do a 10 million dollar. 10 million business out of UK by the end of this. There's no point doing all this teams traveling. It makes no bloody sense. Yes, I understand. I understand. And you are not work. You are working out of home. We don't have an office in uk. We don't have a regular team. I don't want you to involve in any kind of follow up, any kind of execution. Your job is only to get an entry because there. We don't do not have an instruction infrastructure in UK as of now. And it is even if we have one following. Handling production if out of UK is a very expensive procedure and makes no bloody sense. There's no point. That has to be a sales team. It has to be a sales venture. All totally sales and design. Potentially. I think design is very important as well. Because the UK I understand you've got PR unle you have the team. But UK design is also in. In. In. In the. In the future. Yeah man, but you need to, you. You. You need to. You need to generate some business on this 5,000, 10,000 pieces. Where is the money to get a UK designer and all all to expand on whatever we have. We have to, we have to realize how big our, how deep Our pockets are and we have to manage our customers in that, in that area. And so we have to grow slowly and we have to reach a level where we have turnover to be able to ask, ask for more support in terms of design or whatever that you need. Anything, any support that you need. You please discuss with Madhukar and discuss with Arnabi and what from this part of world, what if you can do what now? They're all already preparing for this trip come the end of January. I am not, I'm not allowing this trip only unless we have four or five meetings lined up for one team. There's no point people traveling there. Okay, so they don't need to come for the. For the trip. If I know we need to get the meetings lined up, I understand that. But for this mountain warehouse trip, then they can send the product accordingly. And Stefan, I can take the. Can take the meeting, right? No, no. You will not take the meeting. My team will take the meeting. You will, you will, you will go and join them. Why do you want to take the meeting and handle the meeting? You said it's going to be unaffordable to. To. It's not affordable to take the. If they're not four or five meetings, then the meeting, the buyer will still want the meeting. So in a more cost effective way. No, no. Sir, customer sample samples are being developed by my team. My team understands those sample. It is the design team. It understands how. What. What it takes to make these samples. What is the cost of these samples? So is this. It is pointless for you to take the meeting with the customer. You don't know. You understand jack about it. How. What is the cost of that government? What it is. You have to be taught. There's no point. But with all due respect to Dark, I've been in this business for 20 plus years and I don't like. So I'm just being used as a person to be. Just to introduce a customer and then that's it. So my full expertise, my full range of expertise is not going to be used. I have not seen your expertise. You have been two years working for us. You have not. You have not even given us one customer, sir. But I haven't had. You have not opened doors to one customer. I haven't. I haven't. I haven't had the opportunity to be. What were you doing for two years? If you have. If you have so much of expertise, why. How come we do not have in one customer with us for last two years? Because I was paying Stephanie, right? I I was paying Stephanie. My. Myself. Why you were paying Stephanie is not my bloody problem. We did not. We did not hire Stephanie. You. We hired you. You, You. We hired you to get customers. In two years we have. We have got jack shit. You might be a very experienced person, my friend, but we don't have any customer. I don't see any results, my friend. Still, we are continuing with you. Please understand. Please understand. I am not sorry there was such. Limitations, like just working from home. Not. I was not understanding how the uk. No one wanted to listen to me how the UK business works. No one wants to. These are all excuses. These are all excuses. If you're, if you, if people are not willing to understand how business works. All right, let's. Let's forget whatever. Now we have a business going. Our teams have traveled two, three times. You have met the teams two, three times. You have traveled here two, three times. Now, whatever the bad blood was there, as it should be. If the blood should be sweeter now because everybody has met everybody. So now going forward, please work towards getting more business and increasing the turnover instead of saying he did not do that or who do not do that or who did not do that. It's not happening. And I am not going to give meetings to you to handle without my team. It's not happening. If that is something that you don't want, you're more than welcome to quit and go do something else. If it is my money on the line, my team will go and sell. You guys will sell for. You will be the sales people for us. It's. This is how we do business in America. This is how we'll do business in uk. I ain't allowing you to go and talk on my behalf to the customer. You are my agent. You are not me. You are my. You are. You are representing me. Representing me, but you are not me. So it's my, it's my. Is my dollar on the line? My team will go and discuss these issues with the customer. Yes. If my team is making a mistake, if my tipping is. If my team is having issues which you feel are not correct or they are not understanding, it is your duty to please tell them nicely why this is. This looks wrong to me. I think if you do it like this will have a better result. It has to be. It's all about working together. If you think this, this is making you look down or this is cutting you out, then I think you are in a very wrong space and you're thinking very wrongly because the performance you have had in the last two years, the kind of. Kind of turnover we are working. If this does not change very soon, either we will close our UK operation or there'll be two more AR sitting next next to you. The last two years. Okay. In the last two years the kind of dismal performance this association has created. So either unless this improves, this situation changes and we have more turnover or I will, either because I. Either I will close this UK operation or I will have somebody else other than Arin looking after this situation. This is what is going to happen because we're simply doing nothing and losing money. And what we are quibbling about is that he did this or he did that. And you are not letting take the meeting. I am not letting nobody take the meeting. If this is what a problem, I'm sorry, you need to figure this out. My team will go and take the meeting. You guys will facil. Facilitate the. Your job is to facilitate the situation. This is how I understand. This is how I'm not going to give control of my business to anybody else who. Whosoever it may be. I'm not saying that Sadaka. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that about. I'm not. I think maybe you're misunderstanding in terms of what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to say things that you know, based on my experience in the UK that you know, the guidance and the advice that I'm offering is not being followed. That this, this, this, this. All right. So what, what guidance, what guidance you are giving it is not being followed. We can have a meeting on this. Let's do a meeting on this. Let's have the whole team involved. Telling me like this is. Is not going to solve your situation. If you feel some guidances are being given which are not being followed, let's have a zoom call. Let Stephanie be there, you be there. Let Priyanka be there. Arnabi be there and let's figure out what guidance that you been giving. I think. I think that. I think that would be a really good idea. I think that would be a really good idea because I think. Before you. Before the meeting can please send a. Send a write up of what guidance that you want to impart which is not being followed. And please get a. Send us a write up. We'll review it and we'll call a meeting and figure out what is. What. What what is we are doing and what it needs to be done the way it is to be done. Let's evaluate it is if it is. If you feel something is good to coming out of it, why not? We are open. I'm open to all kind of suggestions and we all make mistakes. You make mistakes, I make mistakes. Team make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. I want this business, I'm not saying that I don't want the business to grow, you know, but you're saying in the last two years and I'm saying, then you're saying to forget the past. I'm telling you I was guided by Mohit. People took the meetings. I was dictated to the reason why we've been able to develop mountain warehouses because I took things into my own hands and I was, I took my own initiative. For the first year of this project things were. I was sitting, I was taking a back seat. Why are you taking a backseat? Why are you taking a backseat? Because Mohit was, was, was, was running it all. K took the boohoo meeting. How to handle disco kids, how to handle everything, when to come. Even when Priyanka was sent, I said she was sent to London, March, April of last of this year. I said is there a shopping budget? She's here to do developments. We were just meant to take photos of the shops. That was it. I said, I was just told she's coming. I'm like okay, Priyanka's coming in April. I said okay, is there a reason, do we have a, a budget etc. Etc. What's what, what's going on? Things like this. Wow. What, what happening that I was on, on, on, on aware. Aware of where I could have given my you know, expertise in, in terms of how to drive, how to drive the business, how to make these things happen. And you know, it was all right. This as I said, maybe you're right, maybe they didn't, they had a. Maybe what you wanted and maybe what they wanted were to their, the differential opinion. You know. So things ready to now team is getting ready to travel now my team is ready to get into travel. Please send a write up of what you, what you feel is being done and which is not being done and let's, and please send me a write up and let's have a meeting next week sometime on tour this weekend and figure out what is, what is being done and what needs to be done and we'll figure it out. If there are some corrections to be made, we'll correct it. You know a lot of these trips to the UK have been not on me. They've been on Mohitz, Okorai. I even Said, why are you coming? It's a waste of money. You know. The only time where the trips have been fruitful and worth it was from last July when we had the meeting with Mountain Warehouse whereby Priyanka came, Arnavy came and that that trip was fruitful because that developed the account. And then when Arnavy came to do the came for the developments and now they're coming now. But all those trips before I wasn't involved with. They were just we're coming now, we're doing this. Mohit came and sat here for two, for two weeks the first year. I said what's the reason? Then also, then also then this comes on my head as well, you know. So all this has been un. Unfair to me. Again Arin, as I said, I don't want, I do not want to go into the background of what has happened which this is the reason why now Madhubar and Ari are handling this situation. Yes. I'm telling you again, if this situation does not improve in the next six months either my UK operation, I will close it or I'll find some other ravine to do it. All right? So better whatever you please work with the team, work with and make it happen. Because if this does not happen and if this department is not making money, it does not make any sense to do UK business for 10,000, 5,000 pieces order. My business in America is 20 million pieces in a year. I'm making 1, 1 or 2,000 pieces is useless unless I can get in the roads into proper customers and there is no point doing this business. Okay, and how he can do that Now I'm open to ideas. You please let's talk about it. I'm open to ideas because to get into the, if you want the volumes of Tesco's, the, the Sainsbury's, the Asdas, you need a UK presence because if you just say you have a Bangladesh presence and you don't open a UK company, just you don't need a UK office, you just need to open a UK company and say that you have a UK presence, that you're more likely to get into a retailer because they'll go through the UK if you let's. Either instead of, instead of talking this on, on this situation, I just as I told you, please send me a write up of how you want this business to be structured and we'll have a call on this on this Thursday or Friday with every ball party is concerned and then we'll review and we'll chalk out our way of way forward. Based on that. Okay, how's that? And of course, yes, of course I'm going to work with, with Madhukhan. And I'm not saying that, I'm just saying. Well, I think maybe it came across the wrong way. I just don't think that, you know, because of how I've been in the UK for the last. The ideas don't want to be listened to about how we should run the UK and this has been the problem for the last year and a half, two years. All right, so let's hear about it. Instead of yeah, please send us a write up of what you think we should be doing to be able to structure this business in a better manner. I'm more than willing to listen, my friend. And if something is something we can, we can afford to incorporate and if you feel, if everybody feels that yes, this is, this is something that we can, we could try on. We will definitely try. And why not? Okay. I'm looking to increase the business because the way this is going one Wonder Mountain warehouse cannot support this infrastructure. And then, you know, saying Stephanie is an extension of me. Is that something that could be re. Put in put and said to her, stephanie, you're an extension of Irvin? Because that doesn't seem the case at the moment. What do you mean? Because the way it's being approached is that, you know, she's the same level or something. If she's an extension of me, I don't think that has been said and has been and I think that needs to come from the top. I don't understand. Marvin, you seem to have a lot of ego issues involved here. It's not, it's not. Jeez. This issue is not there. That is not there. This is not that. Your job, your Victory Time International is paying you and wants to pay you more for the growth of business in London in uk. All right, how this is happening, how this is not happening? This guy say yes to you. This guy is saying no to you. You are not managing director of my company in office in, in Bangladesh, in uk my friend who are a sales kind of a person. A salesman's job is to make, make his deal with the customer. Make him. He, he, he's. He. The customer should be in love with him and so should his delivering team should be in love with him. Other than that, that's about it. Okay. And then also can we speak about. So I please do not give me. I do not understand that Stephanie doesn't needs to give this message this, that she is extension of me or No, I. I'm not here to control your hassles with her. Or XY zooms are Z or. This is not my job. I need. I need business, my friend. I need orders. Okay. If she's. She's. She's having tuna sandwich or she's having potato salad. I give a. I don't care. Okay, I understand. Okay. And also kindly please. You are not. I'm telling you again, Mr. Arvind, you are not managing director of my office. I'm saying that my salary doesn't dictate. I understand and thank you. In terms of. And I, I, I. And I don't. I want your salary to be more than what. Whatever it is. And it is directly related to the business you can generate. So I would rather have you take a chill pill, go take a drink and be friends with everybody. And please tell them hi, let us. Because if this office does well, you do well too. So currently if you start having problem with Arnavi, with Madhukar, with Mohit, with Stephanie. This business will crash any which way. I'm not having a problem with any. I'm. No. And Stephanie is. I have no problems. I mean she. Why are you calling me? Why are you calling me if you don't have a problem? Why am I talking to you? You have problems with people. That's why I'm talking to you, my friend. Otherwise this should have been sorted out at Madhuka's level. I'm not talking about whatever. Whatever issues are. I'm saying about having to drive the business. Sudhaka. How we can drive the business. Where? Give me one. And no one's. No one's. No one's. The reason why I'm calling you is because no one's listening to me. Of how. How we can drive the business for the last two years. Everyone, you know. This, this, this, this. This thing. My ideas are not being listened to. This is the whole point. All right. Very good. You send me. You send me a write up of what are your ideas and how you want them to be structured. And how do you. What you think from whatever. Where we are. How. How should we move forward? Please send me a write up. Also can we look at the salary please? Because I'm on £2,200amonth salary. From where? What? What. Where is salary coming from? Well, sorry, the. The commission. What's being paid to me on a monthly basis. Is it possible that we can look at it? No, we. There cannot be no more increments. If you don't like the job Please drop it. If you don't like the salary, do please drop it. You can drop this employment right now. We are not. We are. We are as it is, we are in a loss. We are not looking to increase anybody's salary here. If you think this is something which is not going your way more than enough to discontinue this more. I'm more than happy to close the bloody office because every time I meet you, you talk to me. You want your salary to be increased and the 50000 sheets were being made. Were made this much of turnover. This much that one. None of that happened. I'm just paying salaries to people now. I'm paying what some something to do Stephanie Walker because it was going out of your situation. In return I've got some 5, 10,000 pieces of business. It's pretty pointless. No, thank you. Okay, I understand. I understand. I am not looking as I'm telling you either this business atmosphere improves our turnover increases in the next six months or I will close this office or I'll have. I'll be forced to find some other Irwin. This cannot go in the way that is going. As simple as that. Well, I'm gonna message you the. The only reason why it's going the way it's going is because my idea. My friend, if this. If this stops going the way it is going, you will be also. Of course I will be heard financially. So will you be. So instead of having to having disagreements with team, I would rather have you write me, send me a. Send us a note how you want this business to be structured. And let us see how we can improve this for your benefit and our benefit. Because the way we are going, there's no point. All right, I understand. I got it. I understand. Thanks. I don't want to listen to what Mohit did not do. What Arnabi did not do, what Madhuka did not do. This is not something that I'm Madhukar and Arnavi is the team. Madhukar and Arnavi are owners of this business. They are the one who are called the Swords. Tomorrow they get if they it up. Is their business, is their money they it up. So it's rather. Please make teams with them and make sure that you make this business better. Otherwise there's no space for you in this company. As simple as that. No. Thank you, sir. I want to grow the business. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, sir.