What Indian startups can learn from ISRO’s Mangalyaan?

An overview of ISRO’s Mangalyaan project in context of Indian social media

Have you given a thought to this: what made ISRO’s Mangalyaan so much popular among the professionals who are sitting on the social media and celebrating its success with jokes, pranks, graphics and sharing every message that has a hashtag of #mars #mangalyaan or #MOM?

Well, the main reason that comes out of the whole picture and plethora of points that an Indian can be proud of is the cost of the spacecraft. Yes, I am talking about the money that ISRO spent in making this idea successful.

Sasta and Tikau (Economic and Stable)

This is what netizens are more concerned about and not that India is the first nation to send a satellite into Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so. It does not matter much that it was India’s first interplanetary mission and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency.

What is more important for Indian and more specifically for people who have no direct concern about science (rocket, of course), is the money that ISRO spent in sending the spaceship into Mars’ orbit.

Some interesting points that came out from the nerdy brains of creative people are:

• Sending the Mangalyaan to space and into Mars’ orbit costed lesser than the Hollywood movie Gravity consumed for its making.
• It is the cheapest Mars probe ever sent to space
• The cost of sending the Mangalyaan to the Mars per Kilometer is lesser than what it costs if you hire an auto rickshaw in India

Are you not amazed by these facts? Don’t you see one very serious lesson as a startup? Are you not able to notice that Indian people are conspicuously concerned about the cost?

What Indian startups should take care while launching a new business idea in India?

Indian startups or foreign players who want to launch a new business idea in India must take care of the cost factor. Though there is a market for luxury products and services also, but nothing sells better and more in India than a economic and stable product. Though you may be a late entrant in the market but you still can wow the populace and win their hearts.

Consider the success story (initial, at least) of Tata’s Nano car. It caught the frenzy of every Indian who ever dreamt of owning a car because it was so affordable. The sales were high and promising.

Similarly, the technical acumen and all the efforts that so many people, agencies, organizations put to make Mangalyaan a success are put aside by common Indian people, yet they are very curious to know the cost comparison of its success across various verticals. You may talk about the budget of a film or what an auto-rickshaw wala charges. They consider it all!

The lesson that Indian startups or companies looking to launch a new business idea in India can take is this:

• Build or offer something that is economical
• Make it stable if you can