‘Entrepreneurship is akin to riding a dragon’ – 40 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From resilience to roadmaps, 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 30 – August 5 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

Human capital is the most precious of all forms of capital available. - Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Zone Startups

Work for something you love, work with people that help you grow not only professionally, but also as a human being. - Anna-Carin Månsson, IKEA

Convince the smartest and brightest to join in and believe your vision. Over-communicate, if need be. – Team Finzy

Startups provide disruption based on the constant search of opportunities and unmet needs. - Satanik Roy, hyperXchange

Many businesses are acknowledging that the amount of value employees bring to their work is rooted in how energised they are, not in how many hours they work. - Marcus Ranney, Thrive Global India

Switching context between the hundreds of conversations and deciding what to prioritise is something every CEO has to master. - Girish Mathrubootham, FreshWorks

When it comes to producing quality talent in all disciplines, India is second to none – however, the optimum use of human resources may yet need to be mastered. - Ayush Atul Mishra, Tattvan

Our nation has a huge population. If even one lakh people start filling potholes, India will become pothole-free. - Dadarao Bilhore, SpotHole

Close to 70 percent of traffic on Indian roads is made up by cars, but cars transport only 5-10 percent of the population. - Mohit Bhatnagar, Sequoia Capital

The Indian mobile and accessories market has significant growth potential, owing to lifestyle changes. - Rohit Dhingra, TAGG

Indian startups will soon lead the way to India’s financial inclusion. With almost a billion mobile subscriptions, digital will also dominate the existing traditional channels. - Anand Tandon, Myforexeye Fintech

Evidence-based care and prevention of medical errors is a $21 billion market globally and, more importantly, saves millions of lives. - Venkatesh Peddi, IDG Ventures India

More than 85 percent people in India do not have their medical records organised, and at one place. - Shreyans Mehta, MedCords

Dehradun has great connectivity, best schools, nice weather, and high employee stability. We should see more influx of startups there. - Ankur Shrivastava, Globevestor

The government’s vision is to bring about 10 percent of the country’s net cultivated area under organic farming over the next few years. - Ashok Dalwai, Ministry of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare

Integrating ducks with paddy cultivation is especially suitable for small holder farmers to produce organically grown rice at low cost. - Ardhendu Sekhar Chatterjee, DRCSC

Digital is enabling transportation to go beyond the usual to move towards shared mobility or a shared economy. - Mohammed Gayaz Ali Asghar, Sasken

Whether ecommerce companies make money or not, these logistics companies make revenue which is guaranteed for them by ecommerce transactions. - Arvind Singhal, Technopak

Intelligent lighting has become one of the key interest areas of industry players to make strides with newer designs and infrastructure for smart homes. - Sudeshna Mukhopadhyay, Svarochi

Why only smart cities? Why not smart huts in villages for people who cannot afford expensive solutions? - Rajasthan DigiFest participant

Blockchain must be implemented in land records as there is no certainty about tracking multiple landowners. - Rohan Khaunte, Goa’s Minister for Revenue, IT, Labour and Employment

The future of blockchain and banking lies in the amalgam of security and public ledger systems. - Subrata Siddhanta, Nucleus Vision

AI promises to be the most disruptive class of technologies in the next 10 years. - John-David Lovelock, Gartner

If the technology is solving a complexity, it still needs to achieve scale from the B2C side and must have businesses adapting the technology. - V Ganapathy, Axilor Ventures

The importance of Huawei overtaking Apple this quarter cannot be overstated. It is the first time in seven years that Samsung and Apple have not held the top two positions. - Ben Stanton, Canalys

Schools, the second home to children, are the building block of a child’s future. - Ketan Kapoor, Mettl

Affiliate marketing is evolving into a consumer discovery channel that results not only in brand engagement but also steep sales with captivating ROI. - Swati Bhargava, CashKaro.com

The culture of an organization is defined by everyone working for an organization. Culture can also be defined as the “work ethic” we choose when we work together. - Nitisha Jukareddy, Digital Lync

Never before have corporates and startups collaborated as much as they do now. - Jay Krishnan, T-Hub

If you understand your business and its implications well enough, pitching is easy. - Ebrahim Akbari, Doodhwala

Eventually, every founder manages sales. This is something that young entrepreneurs should realise. - Venk Krishnan, NuWare

Reevaluating your business model (or ‘pivoting’) is often the most fruitful approach if you are getting insufficient traction. - Meena Ganesh, Portea

You cannot have your ‘best-sellers’ out of stock for sure. Not only are you losing the sale, you are also losing the customer. - Shweta Sharma, AdGlobal360

Being first can be a huge advantage, but being the best is more important. - Courtney and Carter Reum, 'Shortcut Your Startup'

If you believe in your idea, keep the flame burning and looking for ways to make it work. - Sunita Maheshwari, Teleradiology Solutions

Network for the sake of learning more and sharing what you have learned. This will ultimately lead you to the right resource. - Neha Bagaria, JobsForHer

Former GUI designers need to speak a new language – that of immersive storytelling and visceral products. - Anirban Ghosh, ThoughtWorks India

The trade market is the place with the least scope for emotions, especially of fear and greed. - Rachit Chawla, Finway Capital

Every human has the ability to change the world. - Naveen Tewari, Inmobi

Entrepreneurship comes with the knowledge that you are going to fail often. Everything is about trial and error, and mistakes and failures are aplenty. - Radhika Ghai, ShopClues

What’s important is how you look at failures, to accept that they are a part of your overall learning process, and that to move ahead you must learn to make it a tool instead of a roadblock. - Padmaja Ruparel, Indian Angel Network

Entrepreneurship is akin to riding a dragon – there are more ups and downs than you can ever imagine. But every challenge on the way only makes you stronger, and every failure only bears new learnings. - Yatin Hans, Bigsmall.in

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).