‘First make it work, then make it better’— 40 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From launch to leadership, witness the memorable journey of Indian entrepreneurship in these excerpts and stories! StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous post here). Share these 40 gems and insights from the week of July 10-16 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. 

If technology can increase asset utilisation then there is a definite business model. — Naganand Doraswamy, IdeaSpring Capital

Don’t get stuck with any of the experiments. If the timeline expires, mark it as a ‘failure’ or ‘success’ and move on. — Pardeep Goyal, Startup Karma

There is growing adoption of the cloud services in the country. Growth is especially coming from SMBs, e-commerce players and startups. — Mitesh Aggarwal, Oracle India

With GPS, we are always at the centre of our world in the moving corridor of the self. — Santosh Desai, Future Brands

Make up your mind that you can conquer any fear and always remember that nothing will happen unless you are willing to make it happen. — Padmini Pakola, Flex India

Everything you’re a part of needs your concentration. — Priya Naik, Samhita

Longest chain is the honest chain. — Mohit Mamoria, Horntell

Berlin could really grow to be the Blockchain capital of the world. — Nikolas Woischnik, Tech Open Air

Sometimes organisations too create abusive ecosystems, that makes talents forget about the team or the organization, and simply protect themselves. — Devdutt Pattanaik

I always say that ‘startup’ is a temporary, flexible state, and the aim should always be to move to a profit making company with revenue quickly. — Harsha Jagasia, Startupbootcamp Digital Health Berlin

Over 25 percent of students leave their first jobs within six months of joining, as their personality traits are not aligned with the work they were doing. — Avinash Rogye, GradLimited

Only 2.3 percent of the workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68 percent in the UK. — National Skill Development Mission

We, as a nation, are culturally trained to take care of other’s health and not our own. But, the vision of a healthy country is growing stronger by every passing day. — Amaresh Ojha, GymPik

Our society in many ways is like my family back home: conservative and blind. — Jagadish Kumar, Angel Ministries

Sustainable development goals are both an opportunity and a challenge—the opportunity to make a difference and the challenge of getting everybody on board with a oneness of purpose. — Jubin Mishra, Sankalp Forum

If we don’t feel a sense of belonging to one piece of earth, what are we really doing? — Seetha Ananthasivan, Bhoomi College

We have got so much from this country, from this civilisation. We now need to focus more on its ideals. — Dr Vandana Shiva

You have to handle growth and development with local talent, with local capacity, with local bureaucracy. — Ramesh Chandra, Social Development in India

Preventing soil erosion, soil run off, retaining soil moisture are major aspects of any rainwater harvesting project. — Subash Reddy, Smaran

Quality of water governance is positively associated with a country/province’s level of economic development. — Eduardo Araral, Indiana University

We are all bound by the same spirit of making a difference. — Meera Shenoy, Youth4Jobs

Lack of fully accessible facilities and platforms is a major concern for people with disabilities. — Kalyani Khona, Inclov

Forty-three percent of worldwide mobile phone consumers with a bank account use mobile banking today. — Sanat Rao, IDG Ventures

You always believe in the youth of a country—they are going to take the country forward. — Sourav Ganguly

First make it work, then make it better. — Ajay Shrivastava, Knowlarity

When you start growing, you should have a good team that you can trust. — Nagasamy Dhanabalan, Dindigul Thalappakatti Biriyani

The traditional business model of car sales will be complemented by a range of diverse on-demand mobility solutions. — McKinsey Report

Just imagine if you fill fuel in your bike, moped or car and get notification on your mobile. — Sahil Chawla, e-Funnel

The demise of email has been predicted numerous times since the early 1990s, but it’s still around. — Andy Yen, ProtonMail

Starting up is much more than just an idea. It is about having a vision. — Aditi Chaurasia, EngineerBabu

Startups only make sense if they add value to the economy, otherwise they are not important. — Kishore Biyani, Future Group

While NGOs do great work, they are dependent on grants and are difficult to scale. Social enterprises are much more self-sustaining and scalable. — GV Krishnagopal, ALC India

In India, it is becoming important and imperative to create a mindset that works towards making things from scratch. — Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog

Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change. — Prabhakar Mundkur, HGS Interactive

Creating a startup along with engineering education is a great way to gain industry exposure, knowledge, and skills. — Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys

The branding and press coverage that comes with investment money definitely helps. — Swati Bhargava, CashKaro

Once you take a deep dive, you get a better understanding of how the retailer thinks. — Sunil Kumar, LoanMeet

The next time you are at McDonald’s and the cashier asks you, “Would you like fries with that?”, maybe you should ask, “Would you like jobs with that?” — Abhijit Bhaduri, The Digital Tsunami

Adequate first- and last-mile connectivity is crucial for the success of mass transit solutions. In many cities, it is still lacking. — Pawan Mulukutla, WRI

Carpooling has never taken off in a big way in India because we unknowingly give driver treatment to anyone who is offering a ride for even a small charge. — S. Vaidyanathan, by2 Rides

Every business has its ups and downs and in the down phases, it is important to have someone strong who believes in the product and business and can pull it up. — Burrp executive

Consumption is growing in tier-2 cities and the opportunity to build brands is a large one. — Abhishek Parihar, SagarFab International

One of the pre-requisites for any city to evolve is active citizen participation. — V. Umashankar, Gurugram

Children are our future and how we bring them up now affects our hope for the kind of future we dream of. — Jemimah Marak, 100 Story House

India as a market cannot handle hyper funded startups. It needs time and space to grow and hyper funding spoils this. — Parag Dhol, Inventus Capital

The ‘3 Cs of profitable growth’ are Conversion funnel, Cost per lead, Customer Loyalty. — Raghav Bahl, Bessemer Venture Partners

When batting, know where your off stump is, a.k.a. your risk appetite. — Abhijit Chandrasekaran, Upraise

In today’s world office politics is the key to survival and it doesn’t mean you are compromising your integrity. — Shilpa Vaid, Arvind Lifestyle Brands

Raise your voice, bring the change and be the change you want to see in the world. Not just in one’s own case, but also when you see it happening to others. — Vartika Kashyap, ProofHub

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).