Timeless classic

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2018)

One of the most gripping movies of all time. Its a fantastic journey which has three characteristics:
1. It would take a really long time to complete. He has a feel for how long it would take - but he doesn't know that exactly. And that feel changes every day as well.
2. He can get caught at any point - in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end - literally on any given day until he is done - and if he is caught, all his efforts up to that point add up to nothing. The net effect of getting caught would be negative, in the form of additional punishment, added with absolutely no scope of receiving a parole thereafter
3. The end result is binary: If he gets caught, twenty years' effort adds up to nothing. On the other hand, if he succeeds, he can be a free man and live the rest of his life happily.
If you think about it, the exact same characteristics are shared by anyone working on a Startup (in addition to the fact that only fools would embark on a journey with these characteristics):
1. It would take a really long time to complete. You have a feel for how long it would take - but you don't know that exactly. Besides, this feel changes everyday.
2. You can fail at any point- in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end - literally on any given day until you are done - and if you fail, all your efforts up to that point add up to nothing. The net effect of a failure would be negative, in the form of lost investment, opportunity costs, and a bunch of significant 'could have beens'
3. The end result is binary: If you fail, you will feel that your efforts added up to nothing. If you succeed, well.....
It might be a strange observation to make from a movie about people serving life-terms in prison - but if you observe closely, the simple and most powerful message from 'The Shawshank Redemption' is this: 'Enjoy The Journey'.