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There's a moment of panic that follows the discovery that an e-mail just went to the wrong person. I blame my computer's auto-complete function.
I was trying to send an e-mail to Akira Watanabe. I start typing Watanabe and my e-mail program automatically completed the e-mail address. Only it completed Hiroshi Watanabe's e-mail address instead of Akira Watanabe's e-mail address.
This would not be a big deal except that each of these Watanabes work for rival corporations and they are not particularly fond of each other. This could be a problem.
I can't just pretend nothing happened as that will make me look completely irresponsible. I have to phone Hiroshi Watanabe and ask him not to read the e-mail I just sent him. Unfortunately, asking someone not to read something is about the surest way to make certain that they read it. This is just like the foolish practice of stamping "Confidential" on confidential faxes.
"Watanabe-san," I say to Hiroshi, "this is a bit embarrassing. I just sent you a funding proposal that was actually intended for someone else also called Watanabe."
He laughs. That's a good sign.
"Yes, Alan. I just saw that. You're doing good work for Akira Watanabe," he says jokingly.
"Yeah, look, I'm really sorry. Would you mind deleting the e-mail? It's a bit sensitive," I ask.
"No problem. Already done," he says, no doubt having already read it through.
"Thanks," I say, "look we haven't had lunch for a while. Are you free sometime this week?" I ask, hoping to thank Hiroshi for not making me pay more dearly for my mistake.
"That would be great Alan, and perhaps we can talk about fund-raising too. We have been considering a few options to add some further capital."
So maybe my accidental e-mail is not going to be a problem after all. I can't help wondering though, whether Hiroshi made the decision to look at fund-raising just this very minute when he found out what his competitor was doing.
Still, an opportunity is an opportunity. I decide that when I meet Hiroshi for lunch I will try to convince him to compete against the other Watanabe and hire me to work for him on a rival fund-raising.
"Hiroshi, I really shouldn't be telling you this," I say over our entrees, "but the e-mail I asked you to delete, it was a proposal to help your competitor raise around US$300 million."
"Alan, I really shouldn't be telling you this, but I know. I read it." No surprise there.
"Yes, well, we haven't finalised the terms yet, and we are competing against some other banks, but I wanted to talk to you before it goes any further. I think you could beat them to the market and raise US$350 million yourself. That would make it very difficult for them to complete their fund-raising at a good price."
"Really? That's not a bad idea." He seems genuinely interested.
"Yes, well we have the groundwork already completed. Since you're in the same industry, it would be very easy for us to adapt this work to you guys and get the deal into the market very quickly," I say. "And you'd do this for us, at the cost of Akira Watanabe and his colleagues?" asks Hiroshi.
"Yes, but only if you can commit by the end of the week. I'll send you a detailed proposal this afternoon."
I'm hoping that time pressure, plus the incentive of making life difficult for his competitor will get Hiroshi to make a quick and perhaps not entirely sensible decision. I am half right.
He calls me back the following morning.
"Alan, we've had a look at your proposal and we agree that this is the right thing to do. So we've compared your fees against the other proposals we have received. You are unfortunately far more expensive than your rivals, so we'll be going with someone else. But thanks for giving us the idea. You can go ahead and work with Akira Watanabe on his funding plan. No hard feelings."
He had other proposals already. He made me compete without me even realising it. And I of course lost. I probably would have asked for half as much in fees if I knew he was looking at other proposals. But that's not all the bad news I'm getting today. I call back the other Watanabe.
"Watanabe-san, how are you?" I say, trying to be as friendly as possible to Akira Watanabe. "Have you had a chance to look at our capital raising proposal? I'd really like to get to work on this with you."
"Yes, Alan. Thank you for sending that to us." He seems rather stern. Not in a good mood.
"So, what do you think? Is there any more information you need me to send over? Shall we get together to talk about next steps?" I remain full of enthusiasm.
"No, sorry Alan, it looks like we're not going to go ahead with the capital raising. I heard unfortunately that our biggest competitor is also doing a fund-raising and they've already appointed banks. So we're too late."
"Oh ... really ...," is all I can come up with. Seems my e-mail error was as serious as I had initially thought.
"Yes, it seems that they somehow found out what we were planning and they've decided to jump ahead. I can't imagine how they knew."
Yes. Well. I'll be typing my e-mail addresses out in full from now on.
An e-mail goes astray, and so does the deal
Sunday, November 8, 2009
