The Apex 100 · India
An application,
answered today.
Five things about you, and an answer on this page. The deciding takes about a minute rather than a fortnight, because keeping a chief executive waiting to be told whether they are senior enough is not a courtesy.
A referral, or a direct approach
Most seats are taken on the introduction of a member, a chair or a partner of the firm. A direct application is read with the same seriousness — a good leader who does not happen to know one of us is not a worse candidate — but it is read, not processed.
The application
Five things: your name, the seat you hold, your total annual compensation, and two ways to reach you. No company name is asked for at any point and no employer is ever contacted. The email address is verified before anything is recorded against it.
The admission interview
Forty minutes with the Principal who would carry you, on what you are actually trying to do with the next five years. It decides both directions: whether the Circle is right for you, and whether we can do the work well enough to charge for it. The bar is published rather than implied: sitting C-suite officers and those one appointment away, from ₹2.5 Cr total annual compensation. Anything near the line goes to a Principal rather than to a refusal.
The Charter
Signed by you and by your Principal before a seat exists. It states what is owed in both directions and what is not promised in either, and it is the document a disagreement is later settled against.
The seat
A deposit reserves it and the balance is invoiced on signature. Your Principal is named, the associate is assigned, and the first quarterly review is scheduled before any work begins.
₹4,99,000 reserves the seat at admission. The balance of ₹18,61,000 is invoiced on signature of the Charter and settled by transfer. Nothing is charged before the admission interview, and the Charter returns the retainer in full inside thirty days if the Circle is not what was described.
The Apex 100 · India
Apply for admission
Five things, and an answer on this page. We do not ask which company you are at — the seat and the compensation carry the decision, and nothing about this reaches an employer.
Nothing is published. No profile is listed, no employer is contacted, and your name reaches no company until you release it yourself.
