‘A creative becomes the most successful when it’s associated with a strategy’ – 45 quotes from Indian startup journeys

Launched in 2014, 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 45 gems and insights from the week of September 9-15 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our compilation of Top 50 Quotes from 2018 here.

Even before starting up, one needs to have conversations in the market. - Amit Sharma, Narvar

One has to very pragmatic, not just an optimist. - Sanjeev Aggarwal, Fundamentum Partnership

It’s impossible to foresee everything at the beginning, but once you’re on the way, you see lots of opportunities that you didn’t see before. - Melanie Kovacs, Master21

Don’t lose trust in yourself. Keep going, and keep working hard. You’ll only struggle for some time, and then you will find success. - Chandana Rao, Heartists

Solid businesses are not built overnight. You have to keep trying new things, learn from mistakes and experiments, and move forward. - Varun Backliwal, Artisera

Entrepreneurs don’t retire. They have too much fun doing what they do to give up. - Alok Kejriwal, Games2Win

Eventually, the biggest disappointment might be not living up to your own potential. - Deep Malhotra, BeckFriends

Large enterprises and financial institutions are under pressure from new-age business models, but they cannot do much because it is challenging to alter their core technology systems. - V Balakrishnan, Exfinity Venture Partners

Digital transformation has accelerated across industries and technology continues to spawn new businesses. - James LEE, Vertex Growth Fund

The exponential growth in IoT devices will mean that the traditional methods of managing networks are no longer going to scale. - Sanjeev Tyagi,  Ericsson R&D Bengaluru

OTT players are reaching new users by offering bundled services through telcos. - Uday Sodhi, SPN India

The power of the mobile handset and the connected ecosystem has enabled the creation of new tools to deliver value beyond the realm of only transactions. - Karthik Raghupathy,

PhonePe

The global telco and digital media industry is changing rapidly and offers a significant growth opportunity. - Udai Dhawan, Affirma Capital

If we can ensure the reach of the internet to each and every person and make them digitally literate and empowered, then it will open a whole new world of opportunities for them. - Shubham Gupta, SBI Youth for India fellow

If you have the business acumen for finance and app development, then fintech investment is the way forward. - Ritesh Jain, FlexiLoans

Everyone wants to reinvent themselves into providing mobility-as-a-service, which means a completely new business model. - Chetan Maini, Sun Mobility

Fashion trends, ideas, and inspirations are often derived from people rather than brands. - Ayush Shukla, Marsplay

Now, more than ever before, we need to be mindful of how we represent ourselves online. - Venkat Krishnapur, McAfee India

India is likely to evolve slower than what some investors, who believe India will go the China way, currently believe. - Jerry Li and Amit Sharma, eWTP

There are some business models that are not feasible in Korea but possible in India. - Minjung Kim, Smilegate

The business ecosystem in the Northeastern states is developing rapidly. - Parash Pratim Borthakur, OLatus

The economic slowdown will have a trickle down impact on startups. - Rutvik Doshi, Inventus (India) Advisors

The continued strong growth of ecommerce has generated significant opportunities in India’s express logistics space for long-term investors. - Deborah Orida, Active Equities

After digital payments, the next big revolution in kirana is going to be ushered in conjunction with e-commerce. - Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Flipkart

It is important to note that most parking areas available in major metro cities are not public. - Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Drivezy

The experiential tourism industry is growing more than 100 percent year on year. Electric vehicles are the future of mobility. - T Venkat Vardhan, DNA Networks

There is a gap in demand for sports facilities among people of all age groups and supply of good quality facilities. - Shweta Singh, SRI Capital

The whole mechanism of searching and finalisation of apartments is very complex, disorganised, and tedious. - Deepanshu Sachdeva, Relocatte

The basic problem majority of parents struggle with is the lack of motivation and interest in kids towards studying. - Persainjit Singh, Extraclass

By 2050, we will need 50 percent more crops to feed 10 billion people. - Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD

Water is a precious resource without which we cannot survive. Coming up with innovative alternatives to all water-based industrial processes should be a top priority of our age. - Harshit Rathore, Nocca Robotics

Autism is spreading like an epidemic, but the solution infrastructure is very weak. - Pratiksha Gupta, 1SpecialPlace

The most important part of planning your personal finances is to figure out your own goals and where you see yourself in the near and distant future. - Preetha Wali, Pay It Forward

The only easy day was yesterday. - Rachit Jain, Youth4Work

Inadaptability can prove to be fatal for survival. - Gagan Singla, AngelBroking

It is a belief in what you’re building that keeps you going. - Praneet Khare, AvidSecure

There is more to life than the market. – SA Vimalanathan, artist

Don't forget to smile and be good to others. - Katya Tosheva

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. - Marilyn Monroe

Creating content does not always require you to spend a lot of money. It completely depends on how wisely you’re spending on every shoot! - Jannat Khan, @wishyouwerefashion

In a competitive scenario where leading brands capture most of the market size, one has to remain relevant. - Parimal Shah, MK Jokai Agri Plantations

What one needs to realise is that a brand must not only be built for the consumers, but also for the trade, for the retailers, for the vendors, and all stakeholders associated with it. - Vishal Shah, Storia

The link between books and creativity is implicit in the fact that while every reader may not be a leader, every leader is a reader. - Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, Neev Academy

A creative becomes the most successful when it’s associated with a strategy. - Smaranika Jena, Mindbound Creatives

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).

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