• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

The stars won't align

Published: Thursday, 28 March 2013

I was thinking and plotting and planning my startup.

When to begin.  Was it too early?  Was the market ready?  Would I waste my time?  Would I waste my money?  I thought about MakerBot.  It all seemed to work out so perfectly for them.  They primed it so perfectly it seemed.  Even Chris Anderson from Wired Magazine was getting on the 3D printing revolution bandwagon.  Not to mention Barack Obama.  Why was it so easy for them?

But then I realised that it probably wasn't that easy for them.  That they probably had to put in lots of work and energy such that MakerBot was the market leader in consumer 3D printing.  They had to set up relationships, establish communities and create their own opportunities.

When I realised that, I realised that the time for me to launch is now.

The stars aren't aligned and they never will be.  But if I launch my company now and build up my vision, even if it's not a success now, this year, or next year, if I just build it up slowly, bit by bit, I will get there.

Bill Gates had to spend three years in a house in Albuquerque before he hit the big time.

I don't need to be successful now, but I will get there.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • The way things go

    You set up a meeting time, ten people email back and say they’re keen, passionate and that they’ll be there.  One person shows up.   So what’s there to...

  • GEDC Diversity Award

    I was awarded the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) Diversity Award for my work with Robogals.  It was sponsored by Airbus.  Here is a photo of...

  • How successful are you?

    “I go to Imperial College”, “I’m applying to MIT”, “I play bowls for my county”, or “I’m a pro-series gamer” means nothing to the person who doesn’t know...

  • Jevaroo - 8DOF robot arm

    We’re building a new robot Jevaroo, an 8-degree-of-freedom robot arm on a moveable platform, that can lift 1.32kg at full extension.  I love this...

  • The meaning of no

    No doesn't mean… I hate you. You suck. Your project is stupid. You're not good enough. You're wasting your time on your project. You should be...

  • YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Day 1: What makes a great leader

    The first day of the "YouthActionNet Fellowship" program began with a welcome email read out, written by Bill Clinton!  How exciting!  I've always had...

  • Obviously successful

    "We would have bought your company." "You just got lucky because it was the right time for that kind of thing." "All the elements in the industry were...

  • TEDxSydney

    From January - May this year, I worked on the first prototype of the production model of my telepresence robot, Teleroo.Teleroo was launched onstage at the...

  • My relationship with money

    You don't need that much money.  Just enough to pay the rent, utilities and food. My plan I created for myself post-uni when I was in 3rd year uni...

  • Lack of inhibitions

    Getting myself in the mood to write can be difficult. Sometimes, when I'm out and about, my brain comes up with one or two ideas at once, and I...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top