Earning the Treasury Mandate at a Polymer Startup
Proved investing capability through early wins, then managed capital allocation across pharma and transformer sectors
Parth Somani
Overview
Parth joined a polymer manufacturing startup in January as a generalist intern, with no initial mandate in finance. His first weeks were spent mapping the raw material supply chain, understanding import dependencies from Dubai and domestic suppliers like Reliance Industries, and learning how different polymer grades matched different customer applications.
The Story
Parth joined a polymer manufacturing startup in January as a generalist intern, with no initial mandate in finance. His first weeks were spent mapping the raw material supply chain, understanding import dependencies from Dubai and domestic suppliers like Reliance Industries, and learning how different polymer grades matched different customer applications.
As he got closer to the management team, he learned the company had a treasury function managing surplus cash. He did not ask for the role immediately. Instead, he demonstrated reliability across his assigned work, built a relationship with his manager, and shared stock ideas informally. When those early picks performed, the manager took notice.
By the third month, the manager invited Parth to formally join the treasury function. Capital was divided among four team members, each with their own allocation to deploy. Parth's mandate was to identify companies at sector inflection points, with a 70/30 split between safe assets and higher-risk mid-cap positions.
His research process started with sourcing names from sector contacts, then moved to reading annual reports, listening to con calls, and studying management track records. He focused on transformer and pharma companies, both of which were at early-stage sector tailwinds at the time.
He generated a 30% XIRR return over three months of capital deployment, a result he attributes to identifying the right sectors early and maintaining discipline on entry timing.