Personal correspondence

Growth must account for the work it retains

Chief Strategy Officer India

I test the commercial work behind a music retailer’s growth choices: the service behind an instrument sale, the obligations behind a resale offer and the utilisation behind a rental fleet.

I began commercial analysis with a preference for a clean comparison. Two alternatives were easier to discuss when they could be placed in adjacent columns. Over time I learned that the most consequential difference often sat outside the first table:work one option required, specialist capacity another assumed, or a responsibility that remained after ownership changed. Strategy became more useful to me when it made those differences discussable rather than removing them to produce a simpler recommendation.

A new format changes the work the retailer must carry, not only the way it receives money. I want that work visible before a promising revenue line becomes an expansion commitment.

Strategy colleagues: 9; Two leads; recommendation remit without trading P&L
Music retail shops: 12; A Gangtok-led specialist instrument business
Annual strategy expense: ₹2.1 crore; Capital decisions remain with authorised enterprise owners

Growth must account for the work it retains.

In 2019 I supported expanding our premium piano rooms on the strength of their larger sales and gross-margin account. I had not given enough weight to the category-specific delivery and tuning commitments. The reviewed piano category had ₹12 crore sales and ₹3.6 crore gross margin, but ₹1.4 crore of those service costs left ₹2.2 crore before occupancy and shared expense. Guitars had ₹8 crore sales and ₹2 crore gross margin, with ₹30 lakh of comparable direct service costs leaving ₹1.7 crore on the same limited basis. The piano category was still larger in absolute terms. The correction was that neither sales nor the initial margin alone justified the space and service commitment I had recommended.

I lead strategy at Velqerni Music Rooms in Gangtok, where twelve shops and 238 employees support musical-instrument customers. FY 2025–26 revenue was ₹94 crore. My nine-person team works through two leads within ₹2.1 crore annual function expense. I do not hold the trading P&L or approve capital independently. CEO Nisha Verqlani owns enterprise execution and CFO Rajan Delqeshi owns financial assessment and reporting. My responsibility is to make alternatives, dependencies and uncertainties clear enough for those owners to decide. Product specialists remain responsible for instrument condition and appropriate service, including judgements a strategy model cannot make for them.

Later proposals for used-instrument consignment and a small rental fleet made the same responsibility tangible in different ways. Avoiding an outright purchase did not remove inspection, custody or seller-settlement work. A fleet acquired for rental did not become fully productive merely because the instruments were ready to place. I want the commercial model to include those continuing obligations before the opportunity is described as an easy extension of retail. I would consider another strategy mandate that values that discipline. A first outside board contribution also interests me after further preparation, with a clear boundary between challenging the model and running the receiving company’s operation. I have no statutory seat, and the actual appointment would need its own assessment of suitability, relationships and time.

The larger margin still carried a different service commitment

Revised a piano-room expansion recommendation after including category-specific delivery and tuning costs.

Consignment retained work without owning the instrument

Recommended a bounded resale trial with condition, custody and settlement responsibilities explicit.

A ready fleet was not a fully occupied fleet

Kept rental utilisation, billings and ongoing costs distinct in the decision about further investment.

Current focus

Commercial models that preserve service obligations, asset utilisation and responsibility beyond the initial growth headline.

Conversations I welcome

A consumer strategy mandate and, after preparation, one suitable first non-executive contribution.

The leadership record

Trusted with consequential decisions.

Formation

Bachelor of CommerceNerqvali Commerce College · 1992

Tsering revised the scale of her own recommendation and kept the service commitment visible beside the opportunity.

Nisha VerqlaniFictional CEO, Velqerni Music Rooms

The full record ↗

Contact

A consumer strategy mandate and, after preparation, one suitable first non-executive contribution.

Board appointments
Executive opportunities

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