In 2010, at an investor event at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, I was dazzled by a company called Opto Circuits.
Their polished presentation, storytelling, and impressive product display left no doubt that a medical device giant was emerging from India. The founder won the ‘NextGen Entrepreneur for the Year’ Award for 2012 from Forbes India.
And today, the company is dead.
Underneath all the dazzle, the company was selling commoditized products from China, without any brand or technology. They were pushing sales to hospitals but payments were not coming in for the next 10 months, and many would never come in.
However, all this hype jacked up the share prices to Rs 250. And to keep up the facade, the company did an acquisition in the US that bombed.
Finally, 10 years later, the stock price was down by 99%, and then, the company shut down.
The company fooled people and raised money, hoping somehow that the fake will become real.
But what if they had gone slow and taken the time to solve a real problem, the right way?
If there is a lesson here, it is this: There is no rush. Life is not running away. You don’t have to become a unicorn in three years. You don’t even need an award from Forbes.
You can’t fast-track life just as you can’t make a tree grow overnight by pouring buckets of water and manure.
Life takes time. Give it that time.
– Rajan