By Jill Mehta (A Freelance Consultant @ IndusGuru)
How would you feel when you are working on the most important project for the last 3 months but during the night of final display of your hard work, your laptop crashes and you don’t recover any of your data!? You disappoint your boss, your team at most but what if I tell you that your project which is now incomplete is going to dishearten millions of Indians? K Sivan, Chairman ISRO felt the same when he referred the last moments before touchdown as the terrifying 15 mins.
Chandrayaan’s journey is much like the journey of an entrepreneur which includes lot of persistence, dedication, ambition, belief and investment of time and money. Chandrayaan 2’s project cost is estimated to be $143 million which is very cost effective as compared to other projects like China’s 1st lunar mission ($180 million), India’s mars mission ($94 million) and even lesser than Jeff Besos’s 2019 Net Worth ($165 million).
- The first hiccup
ISRO’s ambitious project officially kicked off on July 22nd to get Vikram (the lander attached to Chandrayaan 2) to land softly on the South Pole of the moon by Sep 7th. However, the lesser known fact is that Chandrayaan 2 was set to initiate on July 15th which was postponed due to a technical glitch which is quite similar to an entrepreneur’s hurdle of getting the first ball rolling. But when you have set the expectations for investors and your team you have to fix the issue without cringing about it. - The planning and the wait
Chandrayaan 2’s first phase of the orbiter optimally revolving in the moon’s orbit was successfully accomplished. The next big wait for ISRO’s team and the world was to see Vikram Lander finish the much awaited first landing of India’s rover on the moon. While an entrepreneur successfully launches their first product/service in the market, the real test for an entrepreneur’s success begins when customers start accepting and re-buying the new product, when the brand loyalty builds up and the profits rise consistently. - Hit or miss
Despite all the efforts of science and technology put together so that rover lands on the Moon’s surface, it had a hard landing and ISRO lost connection with Vikram just when it was 2.1 kms away from landing. We were so close to the destination but it was missed, which is a known fact in the startup world – that majority of the start up’s fail within a year of its establishment.
The journey of Chandrayaan 2 draws a parallel line for all the Entrepreneurs around the world. A mere hit or miss doesn’t define the capability or the future of an entrepreneur. The brainstorming still keeps running for a better comeback.
- You only get one great opportunity to make a successful pitch to your investors. A chance missed by 2.1kms is a chance gone for decades. You cannot re-establish contact with a lost deal. But you can continue to do best with the orbiter which is live for another 7 years which continues to boost your current business.
- Entrepreneurs don’t stop with one failed venture. They prepare better for the next one with a stronger belief, consistent effort, better technological and scientific backing. ISRO has truly done a commendable job for its lunar project and, what’s more, it is leading entrepreneurs re-launch by example – Chandrayaan 3’s launch in 2024 and Gaganyaan which plans to send 3 “gaganauts” in space for the first time in 2024!
Because risk takers seek better than those who never tried.
#failedentrepreneur #vikramlander #gaganyaan #chandrayaan2
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of IndusGuru Network Partners