I'm Gaurav Seth, Co-Founder & CEO at PierSight. Ask me anything!
Hi Grapevine,
I'm Gaurav, currently building PierSight, a space-tech startup focused on persistent maritime monitoring using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and AIS satellites. We enable all-weather, 24/7 surveillance of oceans, detecting vessels and icebergs even through cloud cover - serving critical needs across shipping, maritime insurance, and environmental protection sectors.
Prior to PierSight, I spent 9 years as a Scientist at ISRO, where I designed SAR systems for missions like Chandrayaan-2, RISAT series and India's first airborne foliage penetration radar.
I'd love to chat with you folks about my journey from ISRO to entrepreneurship, building deep-tech in India, the future of space technology, early stage organization building, amongst other things.
Ask me anything, I'll be back at 7:30 PM and begin answering! :)
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The leap from scientist to entrepreneur requires a significant mindset shift. What personal values or experiences from your childhood gave you the courage to make this transition?
I was born and brought up in Ahmedabad. People who do job and not their own business are considered weak here :)
Hey Gaurav do you also work for 90 hours, what your thoughts on this?
I think my industry is very creative in nature and 90 hrs or counting hours makes no sense. Also, to do anything significant in space you need a few years at least. What we look for is people who take ownership of their work, show strong intent and having a long term outlook.
Currently my routine is just me time and work, but i am pretty sure i don't hit 90 hours :P
Thanks for quick response, I also think that working on ourself for 90 hours is different and working for company for 90 hours is different. If CEO says you want to work 90 hours a week on yourself then it should have ok đ
Gaurav, it is inspiring to see that folks like you are leaving a coveted ISRO job and building in India. So many talented people like you left for the US.
What in your way is the way that India can attract and keep more talented people to stay in deep-tech industries such as yours?
We need to have more global cities like Singapore, Dubai, Tokyo, NYC etc. IMO some Tier 2's in India like Ahmedabad, Pune have the potential but don't have the right mindset
HI Gaurav, thrilled to be able to interact with an actual rocket scientist :)
Was checking out your profile â your experience spans both planetary and Earth observation missions at ISRO. How did this diverse exposure influence your vision for PierSight's maritime surveillance technology?
In a planetary mission you live with constraints of Size , weight , power and cost while trying to maximise the possible science output. This has influenced mine and PierSight's vision significantly
Hey Gaurav,
Much respect for building a spacetech company from India - I am so bullish on what you folks are trying. Two questions pls:
- There are other maritime surveillance companies in the US. How did PierSight improve upon their technology?
- What is the longer term goal: maritime surveillance, or all kinds (agri etc)
I really hope you folks ace it!
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I think our solution is a superset of what all current companies provide.Again IMO our unit economics will be a formidable moat compared to these competitors.
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Longer term goal is to make more application specific SAR solutions. The thing is that SAR transmits its own light giving it the day , night, all weather surveillance capaability however the con is that it usually can only operate for a limited time . Hence, making satellites tailored to applications only makes sense to me.
Everybody complains about the dearth of deeptech investments in India. How was your experience with VCs?
How did you get them up to speed on what you are building? How should someone building in deeptech approach it?
I was raw and didn't know the difference between deptech fund and Tier 1 funds. Honestly, that helped the most. As a founder we need to pitch to VCs, customers, employees who all can be non deeptech. My only goal used to be was to make the person in the room a believer. I would recommend the same to anyone else
What made you convince to leave ISRO and build PierSight?? Are there any specific milestones youâre excited in the near future???
Started with a belief , kept spreading it and could never return back.
Coldplay concert in Ahmedabad on 26th Jan
Thanks for the reply!!! Didnât thought scientists make jokesđ. Cold play concert huh Lol
How do you folks hire? By any chance do you struggle to find relevant talent in India for what youre building?
Started by hiring from network and head hunting for few positions where network failed. Currently we are hiring from GoHire portal. Haven't engaged in any HR/ recruitment services so far and don't see a need for the same anytime soon.
I am confident in saying that we have a dream team so far and hence my answer to your 2nd question is NO !
Hey Gaurav, thank you for doing this I am curious: as a potential customer for rocket companies, what do you think about huge rockets like SpaceX's vs companies like Agnikul and Skyroot building smaller rockets in India?
Are smaller, more frequent launches going to be revolutionary for your industry? Or is it not as much of a pain point as they say?
SpaceX is like metro will only drop you to specific stations(Sun Sync orbits) while the smaller rockets are like a chauffeur driven cab which will drop you to the right lane and house (Specific Orbital parameters).
Smaller ones def have a use case for constellations
Given your experience with foliage penetration radar, could you elaborate on how PierSight is approaching the challenging problem of sea state compensation in maritime SAR imagery? The interaction between radar backscatter and dynamic ocean surfaces remains a fascinating technical challenge.
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