‘Making a start is the most vital part’ – 50 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From ideation to implementation, 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 50 gems and insights from the week of October 29 – November 4 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our compilation of quotes from India’s No.1 startup conference TechSparks 2018 here.

It is never too late to make a new choice. Your fate is in your own hands. - Mamata Hegde, Shree Nandan Creme Glacee

It is important to accept that the path towards entrepreneurship is full of twists and turns. But making a start is the most vital part. - Amala Sengupta, Acanthus Design

It is crucial that entrepreneurial mentorship programmes gain widespread acceptance and adoption to boost the potential of startups to withstand the ravages of time. - Ashish Bhatia, India Accelerator

Early employees are not merely associates for the company but growth hackers and innovators. - Mohit Gulyani, Moglix

The marketing needs are complex for products that most people haven’t heard of. - Priyanka Save, Fruzzante

The ideal business model should allow for your business to grow while remaining profitable, a failure on either front, over a long period is simply not an option. - Rajiv Talreja, 'Lead or Bleed'

A good business model is one which has identified at least five sources of revenue. - Nandini Vaidyanathan, 'Entrepedia'

When the segment is vast, one has to choose a sliver, execute well and become a leader. - TGC Prasad, mSupply.com

Each day starts with the thought of being adaptable and agile. - Chinu Kala, Rubans

One of the biggest goals for entrepreneurs is to achieve greater efficiency in all aspects of their organisation. - Satchit Hasabnis, LoanBaba

When you’re running a business, you need 110 percent attention and efficiency every day, all day. - Samara Mahindra, CARER Program

The perception of ‘busyness’ makes multi-taskers believe they’re working well, when in fact, they are alternating between numerous tasks at the cost of effectiveness of each. - Marcus Ranney

With small-ticket products (typically below Rs 2,000) accounting for the majority of retail purchases, contactless cards are the perfect queue buster technique for every retailer. - TR Ramachandran, Visa

The online market has entirely killed our sales. - Suraj Singh, Aastha Steel Centre

The biggest challenge for any online seller and the logistics industry is the last mile delivery. - Vipul Yadav, iThink Logistics

Startups are the ones that enable fashion corporates to innovate on their marketing and reach customers faster. - Gowri Shankar, TiE Seattle

A big mistake many make is to fill up their blog with ads as it annoys readers. - Pardeep Goyal, Startup Karma

Digital-first brands are creating immense value globally. - Girish Mathrubootham, FreshWorks

AI can be adopted in a multitude of ways, depending on organisational needs and business intelligence (BI) insights derived from data gathered. - Vivek Sharma, Lenovo

AI is not only the future of sales but also the here and now, given the massive scale on which it is being used by enterprises worldwide. - Sudeshna Datta, Absolutdata

Today, businesses want ML to be democratised. They want regressions and classifications to be done by people who are proficient in SQL and not just data scientists or analysts. - Rishi Singhal, Google

Language comprehension is very nuanced. - Dilip RS, Alexa Skills

You can't be the CTO without constantly learning because you'll be out of date very soon. - Rebecca Parsons, ThoughtWorks

The connected car is already a reality, and in-vehicle wireless connectivity is rapidly expanding from luxury models and premium brands to high-volume midmarket models. - James F. Hines, Gartner

It is crucial for organisations to expend time, effort and resources towards careful and data-driven cybersecurity strategy. - Venkatesh Sundar, IndusFace

The “blockchain without cryptocurrencies” perspective may be at best an oversimplification of the underlying technology and, at worst, an outright misunderstanding of it. - Cathy Guo, Dunya Labs

Open source is the default choice for modern IT solutions. - Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat

The business of value is what startups have to think about, it's not always about the prowess of technology. - V Ganapathy, Axilor Ventures

College students in India are looking forward to picking up new age skills to make themselves more employable. - Ronnie Screwvala, UpGrad

In a price sensitive healthcare environment, cost optimisation and quality delivery will become critical success factors for any healthcare provider. - Amit Varma, HealthQuad

For the growth of on-demand home services company, word of mouth seems to work best. - Lovnish Bhatia, Timesaverz

Growth in this market requires a much wider approach and not just a dot.in. - Rishi Jaitly, Times Bridge

While there has been an increase in the number of SC/ST owned enterprises, there still exists a need to increase livelihood opportunities. - Priyank Kharge, Minister of Social Welfare, Karnataka

Data reveals that the water quality in many rural areas is worse than imagined. - Vibha Tripathi, Swajal

The talent present in the startup ecosystem in India has been visibly increasing over the past few years. However, support to social enterprises is still limited. - Srikanth Karra, Mphasis

Intersectionality is approaching everything in life with the basic understanding that there are many layers to one's identity. - Ardra

We are not wrong in any way, it’s the society that does not accept us that is wrong. - Kajal Brahmavar, transgender RJ

Mental health had a stigma attached to it but fortunately, people are slowly beginning to understand its importance. - Shivam Hingorani, Ace Blend

Disruptive growth is the only way we can create a real solution to the hunger problem. - Neel Ghose, Robin Hood Army

Even before the new initiatives, there were many schemes for MSMEs. Unfortunately, availing the benefits of these schemes is difficult for those in need. - Gaurav Agrawal, G-tech Print Works

Vehicle tracking system in passenger vehicles will be made mandatory from 1st of January, 2019. - Priyank Bharti, Ministry of Road Transport

Most Indian houses have people with chef qualities built in them, and they may want to start their own food store, but have no knowledge or experience. - Puneet Kansal Rolls Mania

When Bharat’s manufacturing capability is combined with India’s marketing ability, a strong Indian brand comes into the picture. - Amit Shingora, Shingora Shawls

India has a great ecosystem of startups and partnerships are the key to growth. - Chris Daniels, WhatsApp

We see a massive opportunity for technology to democratise wealth management in India across income levels. - Ravi Mehta, Steadview

In the past one-and-a-half years, we have gone through a telecom revolution. - Mayank Bidwatka, Vokal

The India of today is remarkably different from the India of yesterday. India’s vast tech-savvy young population is its key strength. - Mukesh Ambani, RIL

Mumbai is unique in terms of its lively and diverse culture, entrepreneurial spirit and creative use of space. - Per Hornell, IKEA India

Human life is too complex and multi-dimensional to use ‘happiness’ as a single measure for anything. - Bruce Lee Mani, TAAQ

Happiness has to be part of our culture, and we have taken a stand that by 2029, we will be the happiest state. - Nara Lokesh, Minister for IT & Communication, Andhra Pradesh

Art gives value much more than bliss. – B. Veeraphut, Bangkok Art Biennale

The biggest trend is re-imagining a traditional look with a contemporary twist. - Thirtha Uthappa, Samaara Jewellery

With large production houses adopting modernisation in their techniques, the handicraft sector is languishing. - Shipra Agarwal, Kala Ghar

It is not only important to understand crafts, but also to value them. - Alka Sharma, Aavaran

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).