‘If not now then when, if not us then who’ – 35 quotes from Indian startup journeys
From bootstrapping to brand building, 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 35 gems and insights from the week of August 16-21 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights!
You need to check only two things – whether speed is essential for survival and whether you can maintain this speed?
Never be afraid to conduct your own experiments.
The local services space is a $ 50 billion opportunity and an extremely difficult problem to solve.
- Sanjay Jesrani and Subram Kapoor, IAN
India’s search and recruitment market is USD 1 billion and it is growing at 20 per cent CAGR.
- Tarun Davda, Matrix Partners
The Indian real estate sector is witnessing tremendous growth and traction but it is still highly unorganized.
No one has tried to help autowallas minimise their dead inventory headache.
The biggest problem is we need entrepreneurship no matter how big we are.
The promise of the internet is discovery.
- Rajesh Chokhani, Sweet Couch
In this age of the internet, we think anyone can learn anything anywhere.
Proliferation of digital consumer technology has made tedious jobs seamless and quick.
Startup success lies in executing the idea, not the idea itself.
Be ready to work for a house on fire!
The dream of making every story matter is phenomenal.
There is an urgent need to spread success stories and positive messages to all.
- Rajesh AR, LabourNet Services
Freedom and encouragement come from your environment.
– Richa Khetawat, Family Counselling India
I only think solutions, actions and ‘what next’, not about problems or challenges.
- Shubhra Bhardwaj, Ferriswheel Entertainment
While services taught us the nuances of enterprise sales and gave us a mindset for running a profitable business, the model only scales at a linear pace.
The only challenge is finding creative ways to earn your prospective customers’ trust without a face-to-face meeting.
Social Media must be in the company’s DNA, now!
Most entrepreneurs go through a roller coaster of highs and lows.
- Rutvik Doshi, Inventus (India) Advisors
Building a brand is ultimately an expensive exercise.
- Kartik Hosanagar, University of Pennsylvania
While you are designing a certain app or product, it needs to work well within all the inefficiencies of the existing systems.
Competition is definitely there but we would rather like to look at it as something that will drive us to innovate ahead of our peers and gain an edge.
I had simply started up with the intention of earning some decent money but with time it has become a full time and profitable business.
- Anugya Vardhan, Grab-it-o
If not now then when, if not us then who.
Bootstrapped businesses allow their teams to maximize their potential, since they have the entire creative freedom at their disposal.
We could have used funds from only one VC, however it was the need for all round mentorship that made us sign-up the others.
With the increasing cost of care, the need of the hour is to shift focus from curative healthcare to preventive healthcare and wellness.
- Gurpreet Singh, RoundGlass Partners
Learning is a continuous process. You have to be on the driver’s seat and never lose focus.
– A. Nandini, GlobalLogic
If waste is processed at source, it can not only give immense environmental benefit, but also economic benefit to the waste generators as well as municipal bodies.
- Nirmal Bhogilal, Batliboi
The city has soul; it just needs a helping hand for people to connect with the soul.
- Manjit Singh Hoonjan, Calcutta Photo Tours
Indian examples or desi metaphors rarely feature in creativity conversations, which are central to igniting the innovation journey.
- Vinay Kanchan, 'Lessons from the Playground'
India is a young nation with immense capability; hence the startup ecosystem is bound to grow only exponentially.
We in India call ourselves a democratic republic, but in reality there is not an equitable distribution of opportunity in our country.
– Anant Majumdar, Thuni Seed
India today needs a stronger social empathy build-out.
- Atul Satija, Nudge Foundation
India’s such a crazy rich, and diverse canvas - I’ll take four lifetimes to soak it all in.
- Merlin D’Souza
I’m lucky to see that what I started off has brought change in my own lifetime. There is a sense of satisfaction.
- Bindeshwar Pathak, Sulabh Shauchalya
My advice is to follow no advice.
- Shila Ghosh
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).