Sujay Thakur is the Managing Director of Raj Development Group in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since founding Raj Holdings and its management counterpart, Thakur Enterprises, in 2004, he has led the development of more than 1.5 million square feet of industrial, retail, and residential real estate across New Mexico. Before entering the development world, Thakur built a career on Wall Street in equity derivatives trading, holding senior vice president roles at Lehman Brothers and BNP Paribas, where he managed global trading desks and grew business in competitive institutional markets.
Thakur holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and Finance from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed Harvard Business School’s Owner President Management Program from 2017 to 2019. He is currently studying artificial intelligence at Harvard’s D^3 Institute, with a focus on applying AI to early childhood education. He also serves as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of New Mexico Small Business Institute and has donated to Manzano Day School and Bosque School in the Albuquerque area.
How do you define success for yourself?
Success is knowing what you want to do and having the focus and tenacity to pursue it at a level others would consider unreachable. It is not just achieving a goal but reaching it at a moonshot level. And once you are there, while you are still climbing, you take care of the societies around you. For me, that starts with the people closest to the work: my employees, and the people I am responsible for.
What does that level of ambition require on a daily basis?
Two things: focus and execution. That is really it. You can have a great plan but if you cannot execute, the plan is nothing. I think constantly about execution in everything I do. One of the most important things I learned at UC Berkeley, in the College of Chemistry, was iteration. You test, you measure, you adjust. I have applied that concept to every part of my business life. It keeps you sharp and it keeps you honest about what is working.
Was there a point early on where you questioned whether the goal was worth the risk?
When I first built my real estate portfolio, I was carrying over $25 million in loans. Then the financial crisis hit. That is a moment where a lot of people would walk away. I did not. I navigated through it, held the portfolio together, and came out the other side. That experience was the proof of concept for everything that followed. You learn what you are made of in those moments, not in the easy ones.
How do you keep your standard of performance high over time?
I benchmark against the best. My classmates in the Harvard OPM program were roughly 150 of the top CEOs and owner-presidents from around the world. When those are the people you are measuring yourself against, the bar is always high. I also read constantly, six to eight books a month, mostly biographies and practical learning material. Warren Buffett, Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, Nelson Mandela. People who did things at a level most thought impossible. That keeps the standard clear.
What has been the hardest period to navigate as a business owner?
The financial crisis of 2008 tested the structure. COVID was a different kind of pressure. Both required a different kind of navigation. The businesses that survived those years had fundamentals that could hold. That is why I only invest in businesses where I also own the real estate. The underlying asset holds even when the operating business faces pressure.
What would you tell someone starting out who wants to build at this level?
Know exactly what you want. Not a vague direction but a specific target. Then build the discipline to execute toward it every single day. The gap between people who achieve at a high level and people who do not is usually not talent. It is follow-through. Study the people who have done it. Understand how they thought and what they prioritized. Then iterate. Adjust your approach constantly based on what is actually working.