‘Every day is our day’ – 35 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From Women’s Day to total women empowerment, 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 March 5-11 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. 

There are always going to be people smarter than you. If you’re lucky enough to find them, hire them. - Shehzad Karkhanawala, Aryaka

Empowering individuals with responsibility, and working on each individual's goals and efficiency is full-time work for a leader. - Sauvik Banerjjee, Reliance Jio

Startups should always know whether their product has a market and that it has the ability to get paying customers. - V. Ganapathy, Axilor Ventures

Creating the right product at the right time is as important as ensuring you have a great idea. - Sanjana Desai, Mother’s Recipe

India is the dark horse in the AI race given it has lot of data, brilliant data science talent, and early adoption environment due to broken processes. - Manish Singhal, pi Ventures

Online has a lot scope in terms of reach and offline laundry is doing good business currently. So if these two platforms are brought together then it will be a win-win. - Nishant Tripathi, Dhobilite

The Indian startup ecosystem has seen an increase in the number of later stage startups who need help from an accelerator. - Bala Girisaballa, Microsoft Accelerator

Unique business models and great teams have consistently attracted best-in-class investors at good valuations. - Chinmaya Sreekaran, MAPE

We see Babytech as a big impact opportunity. India alone has 500 million parents, and close to 29 million newborns each year. - Nitin Pandey, Parentune

No one will invest in another payment gateway or wallet. - Prasad Vanga, Anthill Ventures

Like any good thing, overdose, abuse, mindless usage, and undue advantage of knowledge, make social media and the internet debatable subjects. - Swati Biswas, Landmark Leisure

Agriculture needs a change, because it is evident that most of the crops contain high levels of chemicals in them. - Devangshu Datta, Third Eyesight

Protection and maintenance of small water bodies is a type of local insurance against drought and hence should be taken up in earnest. - Professor S. Janakarajan, MIDS

In the case of Sardar Sarovar or Hirakud or any other large dam projects in India, the rehabilitation provided by the government is substandard. - Kailash Awasia, NBA

India is all about design and craftsmanship. We have so many talented designers who are creating beautiful designs, but unfortunately, they are not able to market themselves. - Shruti Jiwarajka, Chambers of Ink

If you want to learn sales and marketing buddy up with a ragpicker; if you want to learn production processes, go live with a farmer for a year. - Satyam Gambhir, University of Commons

It is difficult to succeed unless you have a focus. – JA Chowdary, IT Advisor, Andhra Pradesh

Travel is kind of oxygen for me. I just pick up my bag and go wherever I feel like going. Travel makes me complete. - Chandana Rao, solo traveller

The sedition law in India was worse than the equivalent law in Britain. – Shashi Tharoor, An Era of Darkness

The key to finding acceptance in a new place is to accept it in the first place. Taking the first step to go out and meet people matters. And so does giving. - Radhika M B, ‘Visa Wives: Emigration Experiences of Indian Women in the US’

Now time has come when women should be made economically strong and government and society should work together to ensure this. - Draupadi Murmu, Jharkhand Governor

It will be great to see more entrepreneurial training for women, encouraging them not to be skeptical about their success. - Karyna Bajaj, KA Hospitality

On the one hand, women are climbing the ladder of success, but on the other, are mutely suffering the violence inflicted on them. - Beena S. Kothadia, GM

Do we really need a day to recognise being a woman? What about the rest of the 364 days and the roles that women fulfil in daily life? - Kriti Sanon, actress

Safety of women and children is a good metric of how well we are managing our economic growth and social transformation. - RA Venkitachalam, Public Safety Mission

Every day is our day. - Netra Shirke, NMMC Corporator

Equality then and today doesn’t have to be handed over to us, it is something we can and should seek for ourselves. – Vani Kola, Kalaari Capital

One needs to be taught about gender and sexuality from the primary level itself. The problem we are facing is that sex education in itself is a taboo in India. – Asmita Sarkar, Jadavpur University

When you can’t accept yourself, how can you expect others to accept you? Get rid of the closed structures of gender and sexuality and thrive being real. - Anjali Lama

If you are a young woman in investments, it is doubly difficult to be accepted since venture capital is still a boys’ club. - Shalini Prakash, 500 Startups

Biases surface at all levels – at factories and at board meetings. In India, you cannot look good and be taken seriously at the same time. - Dipali Goenka, Welspun

Empowerment is not a fruit that someone gives you on a tree; it's a sense of belief that you are equal and you deserve equality in every walk of life. – Gul Panag

Labour can and will become its own employer through co-operative association. - Leland Stanford

Make the company more than just about you. Make it about the community. – James Altucher

I have always wanted to grow up to be rich so I can help the poor. - Mahesh Ningthoujam, Young Guardians of Manipur

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).