It will soon be 14 years since NoPo was founded in 2011. This was reminiscing the journey from what started as a dream that was impossible to be on track to producing significant scale. I was mapping our performance record in this time. From a microgram to a ton. It has been a scale of an astonishing 10^12 times.
2010: Not Possible – There is no way to produce Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes in india. Not happening in Private Sector. So named the company, NoPo and moved on.
2012: No way – Took samples to a national lab for analysis. They felt that I was bluffing and that it’s impossible to produce tubes so small. So we took it to their Zeiss machine; opened it up and voila. I took the images on a CD; had them load it up and walked out with satisfaction.
2014: ‘No’ – I wanted to expand NoPo into a larger premises and asked my grandparents for help. They offered a piece of ancestral land that was no longer in use to expand. Both of them were extremely proud of what we had accomplished and as a bonus; I’d be with them in their old age. My uncles, Narendra and Raghava said No saying they will do some development in the lands and didn’t want me there. As of 2025; the land remains overrun with wild shrubs without even a hint of a fence being built! This led to searching for more places and finding the R&D center in Electronic City.
2015: ‘No, bye’ – One of the key people working with me decided to quit just as we were moving to a new facility. He was to have taken up a bigger management role. But decided to go work for a speculative railway project that never happened. I asked for him to stay back but No. This led to more hiring and found one of my co-founders; Anto.
2017: ‘No, No’ – A cousin had joined NoPo to begin his career and had been moulding him by training in various things. One time, a reactor was damaged down due to carelessness. Had planned out his career and growth but he quit. Later turned out that he had been speaking to a few uncles who had nudged him to quit. He refused to be part of the journey anymore.
2019: ‘No’ – Signed an MOU with a major Aerospace and defense contractor. Due to changes in procurement laws by the GOI; the follow on actions were cancelled. This led to us being part of IDEX and began development of a Desal system. The water development led to improved purification and sorting capabilities. This in turn led to us developing a material most suited for our current markets. The metallic nanotubes that were envisioned to be developed for the project have now made an entrance in 25
2021: ‘Not sure, sure’ – Met my wife and we both touched the right chords. There was a brief moment when the thoughts oscillated on whether this is it or not. Luckily; everyone was convinced. And met my life partner and Yuri. The Not sure became a firm Yes and led to building Vrisva; a company that is building rockets to take me us to Mars.
The ‘No’s are just a distraction. As long as we can ‘Po’ on the journey.
Po – ಪೋ – go in telugu.