When Sharran Srivatsaa arrived within the US from India in 1997, he was not carrying a enterprise empire, a robust community or a high-paying job. He was a university freshman attempting to pay his payments, working as a janitor and scuffling with one thing that will observe him into job interviews- his thick Indian accent. At one level, he was informed that he would by no means get employed until he realized methods to communicate otherwise.Greater than twenty years later, he has labored at Goldman Sachs, constructed and bought companies, helped scale two corporations to billion-dollar valuations and, in 2026, took over as CEO of Acquisition.com, the funding agency based by Alex and Leila Hormozi.Right here’s what it took for Sharran to fulfil his American dream.
1997: Arriving in America and cleansing flooring
Srivatsaa has described his arrival within the US as a interval when he was merely attempting to get by. Within the account shared by him on his Instagram web page, he recalled arriving from India as a freshman with a “tremendous thick accent”. He labored as a custodian, scrubbing flooring and cleansing bathrooms to assist himself by faculty. When the top custodian instructed that he discover English tapes on the library to enhance his accent, the library didn’t have what he was on the lookout for.As a substitute, the librarian handed him Tony Robbins’ “Private Energy”. So, evening after evening, whereas working, Srivatsaa listened.What started as an try to enhance his spoken English finally turned one thing a lot larger: an early lesson in communication, confidence and self-education. He has since described the Sony Walkman he used on the time as his “English instructor”.
He as soon as used Tony Robbins tapes whereas cleansing flooring to enhance his English.
There have been different tough moments too. In one other account of his freshman yr, Srivatsaa recalled struggling to afford meals after a world tuition cheque delayed the activation of his faculty meal plan. At one level, he says, he even searched by a dumpster for leftover meals.Years later, he would return to the identical faculty as its graduation speaker.From India to an American collegeSrivatsaa has mentioned that he got here to America on a tennis scholarship. His early years, nonetheless, had been far faraway from the picture of an aspiring enterprise government.In a publish recounting his freshman yr, he mentioned his worldwide tuition cheque took two weeks to clear after he arrived in school, leaving his meal plan inactive. He initially managed with meals from pizza events organised by pupil golf equipment and fraternities. When these events ended, he mentioned he started on the lookout for meals elsewhere- together with in dumpsters.In one other account, he recalled that he was working as a custodian on the similar time, cleansing flooring and bathrooms to pay his method by faculty.Greater than twenty years later, he returned to his alma mater, Luther Faculty, as its graduation speaker.
At 20, his first startup
Srivatsaa’s profession didn’t observe a straight line. In accordance with a timeline he shared, he joined his first startup as an early engineer whereas nonetheless in faculty at 20. The corporate was bought when he was 21. He has described the expertise as his first actual publicity to the worth of possession and fairness.He has additionally recalled a later dialog with Elon Musk that influenced his decision-making. On the time, Srivatsaa was juggling his startup work with a dream of finding out at Stanford. He requested Musk what he ought to do. Srivatsaa says Musk suggested him to pursue the startup as a result of Stanford would nonetheless be there later, whereas the startup alternative wouldn’t.Srivatsaa subsequently dropped out of Stanford’s College of Engineering and constructed the startup. The startup was finally bought.
His first startup was bought when he was simply 21, based on his profession timeline.
He then spent years educating tennis
The subsequent part was about as far faraway from funding banking as doable. At 22, Srivatsaa turned a tennis skilled within the Caribbean. He has mentioned that after promoting his first enterprise, he spent about 5 years educating tennis at resorts within the Caribbean, Dubai and Maui.He later recalled {that a} mentor challenged him to develop into top-of-the-line educating professionals he might be. His project was easy: educate 100 free classes whereas receiving suggestions on each one.Among the many individuals he says he finally taught had been Invoice Gates, Richard Branson and Alan Alda. The tennis years additionally introduced one other surprising lesson. In his account, Srivatsaa recalled asking Branson how he made selections whereas operating a number of corporations. He says the dialog prompted him to develop his personal framework for making selections.
Then got here an unlikely Wall Road breakthrough
By his late 20s, Srivatsaa had moved in direction of finance. He enrolled in an MBA programme at Vanderbilt and later joined Goldman Sachs in the course of the 2008 monetary disaster. However getting there took significantly extra effort than a typical job utility.Srivatsaa has repeatedly mentioned he went by 39 one-on-one interviews to get the Goldman Sachs job. In a single account, he mentioned he was the one pupil from his MBA class to make it by that course of and get employed by Goldman that yr.He has since described these interviews intimately, together with one encounter with a managing companion who handed him an inventory of prospects and requested him to rearrange a gathering. Srivatsaa didn’t know what to say and as a substitute requested the managing companion for a script in order that he might signify him correctly. He says the response was optimistic and the interview in the end turned an necessary second in his hiring course of.At Goldman, he labored with rich purchasers and later mentioned he managed greater than $3 billion. His skilled biography additionally lists Credit score Suisse amongst his earlier employers. However Wall Road was not the place the story ended.
He wager on a small actual property firm
Srivatsaa’s greatest enterprise gamble got here when he turned concerned with Teles Properties, a small Beverly Hills actual property brokerage.In accordance with his account and a Forbes profile, he initially encountered the corporate whereas serving to a Goldman Sachs shopper. He found critical issues within the enterprise, together with alleged monetary misconduct by the then-CEO.Srivatsaa took a go away from Goldman to assist tackle the scenario. He finally determined to take majority management of the corporate. To finance the transfer, he says he reverse-mortgaged his home. Forbes additionally reported that he did so with out initially telling his spouse.On the time, Teles was a small operation. In a timeline of his profession, Srivatsaa described it as having one workplace and 28 brokers in Beverly Hills. What occurred subsequent remodeled his profession.
Teles went from $300 million to $3.4 billion in gross sales
Srivatsaa says Teles Properties grew roughly 10 occasions in 5 years, from about $300 million in gross sales to $3.4 billion. The corporate was finally acquired by Douglas Elliman. Srivatsaa has described the transaction as the most important acquisition between two unbiased actual property manufacturers within the US on the time. Forbes additionally experiences that Teles was scaled to $3.4 billion in gross sales earlier than its acquisition by Douglas Elliman.The transformation turned one of many defining achievements of his profession. He later described these years as tough in addition to rewarding, saying that the enterprise consumed a big quantity of his time whereas he and his spouse had been elevating their younger household.
From Teles to a different billion-dollar valuation
After the Teles sale and a interval that included constructing one other private-equity enterprise, Srivatsaa joined Actual Brokerage. In accordance with his personal account, when he joined Actual, the corporate had round 6,800 brokers throughout 21 states. He says the variety of brokers grew to roughly 27,000 and the corporate’s valuation rose from about $200 million to $1.2 billion.Acquisition.com’s present biography describes Actual because the fastest-growing publicly traded actual property brokerage and says Srivatsaa served as its president earlier than becoming a member of Acquisition.com.He additionally turned a member of Actual’s board after stepping down from his working position. Throughout his time there, he rang the Nasdaq closing bell.
2026: A brand new position with Alex and Leila Hormozi
By 2026, Srivatsaa had moved into one more chapter. He joined Acquisition.com, the funding agency based by Alex and Leila Hormozi. The corporate’s personal materials lists him as a Managing Associate, whereas his current posts establish him as CEO and Managing Associate.Forbes reported in March 2026 that Srivatsaa was changing into CEO as Leila Hormozi moved into the position of chairwoman. The publication described him as having already constructed two billion-dollar corporations and highlighted his earlier Goldman Sachs and Teles Properties expertise.For Srivatsaa, the transfer was not merely one other job. He had identified Alex and Leila Hormozi for years, and has described the choice to affix them as the following stage of his profession.Srivatsaa’s journey has taken him by a number of very totally different worlds- from working as a university custodian and educating himself English with a Sony Walkman to working at Goldman Sachs, constructing Teles Properties and serving to scale Actual Brokerage.At present, he’s main one other chapter as CEO and Managing Associate of Acquisition.com alongside Alex and Leila Hormozi.The distinction with the place he began is placing. The scholar who as soon as fearful that his accent might hold him from getting a job went on to construct companies price billions of {dollars} in gross sales and valuation. His story, in the end, is a reminder {that a} tough starting doesn’t essentially decide the place a profession can lead.