Personal Lessons from Startups — Part 2 of 5
It’s no secret that for startups to succeed, growth is key. Startups generally aim to revolutionize the industry they serve and deliver financial gains for their shareholders in the process, for which they need to grow continuously. In a previous article, we looked at the power of a growth mindset in a personal context and explored practical tips for developing one. Here we explore the next logical step — what are we growing towards?
How do you set the right goals? Setting goals is a typical part of growth in startups and established companies, though startups reassess goals more frequently. In our personal lives we see goals more often in the form of new year’s resolutions. While there’s nothing wrong with that, the average new year resolution fades away in less than a year, and isn’t necessarily the best template. It is helpful though to have a yearly reminder to evaluate and set new goals. For me it’s my birthday in June — a good time to look back on the previous year, determine what I want out of my life in the next year, and then use the new year as a mid-year check-in.
Set Goals with Clarity and Purpose
In 2003, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), set its goal of landing on the moon. It launched an orbiter mission in 2008 and came close to its mission in 2019 when the Chandrayaan-2 was launched. It was a moment the entire country had been looking forward to — when India landed on the moon. On Sep 7, 2019, moments before touchdown, the lander lost contact with ground control and crashed to the disbelief of millions of Indians. We were so close. But the orbiter remained in orbit around the moon and continued to operate. Equipped with a number of scientific instruments, it was used to map the moon’s surface, study its composition, and confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon. Given the successful orbit and scientific findings, Chandrayaan-2 was considered a partial success. And given it almost made it to the moon’s surface, many of us would have considered that good enough. After all, how often have we rationalized success when we’ve gotten close to our goals — losing weight, saving money, etc. — but not all the way there, with the comforting thought that at least we were better off than where we started (“some progress is better than none”). Instead, ISRO did a post-mortem on its mission, squarely identifying what went wrong including factors outside of their control, and less than 4 years later completed their mission with the Chandrayaan-3.
Having clarity on what you’re working towards is important, though knowing why you’re working towards it, even more so. The why is the motivation behind the what and helps define the goal and with building and sustaining momentum to achieve it. Without the why, it’s easy to lose focus and give up. Without the why, it’s safe to assume that after its first failed lunar landing, ISRO would have pivoted its focus and dedicate all resources on its other goals like a Mars landing.
On a personal note, I used to be able to do handstand pushups a decade ago in my b-boying phase, though when I tried to hold a handstand last year, I found my wrists give way almost immediately as the first point of failure. I then discovered that women are at a higher risk of osteoporosis and losing bone density starting from the age of 25 in the absence of strength training. So last year I set two goals — strength train to (re)build upper body strength, and hold a hand stand. Though the two are related, guess which one I ended up achieving? If you guessed the former — you’re right. Strength training was driven by a fear of not wanting to break an arm or leg from a minor fall because of low bone density — something I witnessed happen to my mother. Whereas holding a hand stand — just for the sake of being able to do it — was a random measure of success and not a powerful enough motivator.
As we’ve crossed over half the year, now is as good a time as any to review the goals you’ve set. If you haven’t been able to stick to your goal, do an autopsy. Dig deep to uncover the motivation behind the goal. Iterate on it if needed, or set new goals. Once you have set your goals with clarity and purpose, they will guide you as a north star through other decisions you will need to make.
Originally published on “Data Driven Investor.” Primary author of this article is Sonal Panda. These are purposely short articles focused on practical insights (we call it gl;dr — good length; did read). See here for other such articles. If this article had useful insights for you, comment away and/or give a like on the article and on the Tau Ventures’ LinkedIn page, with due thanks for supporting our work. All opinions expressed here are from the author(s).
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