INTERVIEW
ERIK BUELL
P74
friend said, "Hey, you know that
you just split with Harley? Well,
my friend Pawan just split with
Honda, so you guys should get
together and talk!" So we met at
Daytona, when he came to watch
the racing there, and we hung
out together and liked each other
a lot. We share the same dreams.
After Honda's exit, Pawan was
looking to build his own design
and engineering organization,
but he was also looking for out-
side companies to team up with,
which might bring him some-
thing he couldn't get from inside.
So then we met a couple more
times, and I met with some of his
leadership, and we actually had
a very philosophical discussion
about where we think motorcy-
cling is going. It was a totally dif-
ferent way to start a relationship
- we were first associated with
each other as friends, before we
began to work together in creat-
ing the Leap hybrid scooter.
Hero purchased a 49.2-per-
cent equity in EBR for $25
million. I presume that helped
repay the chunk out of your re-
tirement fund that you invest-
ed in getting EBR started.
No, all of that money has gone
into developing the business.
Luckily, my lovely wife Tish was
willing to keep on investing her
share of that money in getting me
out of the house, and keeping
me working here.
Did Hero try to purchase
EBR outright?
No, and that was part of the
discussion. After getting to know
Pawan, and seeing the fascinat-
ing country that is India, and the
interesting company that is Hero,
I realized they believe a lot in indi-
viduals, and in relationships. He
wanted to work with us more as a
partner than as a subsidiary. He
understands that the entrepre-
neurial nature we have at EBR is
more valuable to us both that way,
because we have other clients
besides Hero that we consult
for, although obviously they're
our largest client. They have a
very good relationship with their
supply base that Pawan's father
initiated in developing Hero. It's
a very different mindset than a
corporate manager who likes to
grab onto companies and claim
that he's controlling everything.
Obviously, as a minority owner of
the business with shares in the
Buell has found the right partner
in India's MotoCorp.
