‘We are not humans anymore, we are cyborgs’ – 35 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From technology to transformation, 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 November 19-25 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.

Your perseverance, your courage - if you keep that intact, only such people will always be successful. - Sudha Murty, Infosys Foundation

You have to worry about branding from the minute you start ideating on your product. - Nandini Vaidyanathan, 'Entrepedia'

The most important part of your personal brand is your elevator pitch. - Tina Garg, Pink Lemonade

Consumers are not averse to paying for convenient content access that OTT unlocks. - Kanchan Samtani, Boston Consulting Group

Companies spend around 10 percent of their revenues on marketing, but a majority of them do not measure how effective it is. - Rahul Budhraja, Analytic Edge

Consumers are agnostic to channel - they want one conversation, one voice, one seamless journey, and human empathy must sit at the heart of that. - Steve Lidbury, Eight Inc

There is an emotional connect when a merchant sees a picture of his customer with a willingness to connect. - Anshoo Sharma, MagicPin

Design thinking isn’t a passing fad to be checked off on a list. When incorporated in its truest sense, design thinking can lead organisations to transformational change. - Abhimanyu Nohwar, Kiba Design

People need tools to be successful. If they are boxed into offices that don't understand them, they will not be creative. - Praveen Rawal, Steelcase India

Lots of brands have gone out of business primarily because of fake goods. - Vikas Jain, Uniqolabel

Making an earning from doing an honest job of blogging is a fantastic business and source of revenue. - Pardeep Goyal, Startup Karma

Majority of startups fail within the first three to four years; most failures are due to financial mismanagement - for not doing what needs to be done. - Sanket Atal, Intuit India

We are not humans anymore, we are cyborgs. - Raghava KK, artist

Now, cameras can understand and interpret surroundings in a way humans do. - Kanav Singla, Adloid

Blockchain has been hailed as the ‘new cloud’, thanks to the scope of its application across multiple use-cases. - Ishan Gupta, Udacity India

Algorithms that can increase Return on Investment (RoI) by understanding consumer behaviour are the future of the industry. - Aditya Bhamadipaty, First Hive

Software systems want to get big and complicated all by themselves, so it takes real efforts to keep them small and simple and elegant. - Neal Ford, ThoughtWorks

To feed 9.7 billion people across the world by 2050 means that the agriculture efficiency must increase by 35 percent to 75 percent. - Karan Mohla, Chiratae Ventures

US is a large market and has tough competition; it is also a market that allows niche play and expansion unlike any other market. - Ankit Ratan, Signzy

We don’t have a government ID where the legal gender markers can be changed just based on self-identification. - Gee Imaan Semmalar

The insurance penetration in India is close to 3 percent of the GDP and there is a huge potential ready to be tapped. - Upasana Taku, MobiKwik

With over 50 million people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders, India is set to face a mental health crisis. - Ankit Nagori, Cure.fit

With a robust ecosystem, the level of gaming in India will increase multi-fold as multiplayer games are much more addictive than single-player games. - Puneet Kumar, Nexus Venture Partners

Tech entrepreneurship is reaching all nooks of India. - Rajesh Sawhney

While renewable energy is progressing in India, it is mostly target driven and relies more on the government than the consumer. - Gaganjot Kaur, SwissNex India

Every home, institution, village, and city must be required to do rainwater harvesting so that rain can be channelised and recharged. - Sunita Narain, CSE

The fast fashion culture, where garments are discarded long before their life is over, takes a huge toll on the environment. - Nanditha Sulur, Khaloom

Measurement of social impact in quantified values often becomes a challenging and daunting task for organisations. - Sonal Chopra, Bridge Impact

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there. - Rumi

There is only one thought of a resolute nature. Many-branched and endless are the thoughts of irresolute. - Bhagwad Gita

Sailing teaches you a lot about life and teamwork. - Hansi Mehrotra, The Money Hans

The gut is the second brain, and the two are integrally connected. - Anupama Menon, Right Living

Mentors are meant to give clarity to the inner voice rather than dictate it. - Meena Ganesh, Portea Medical

Your job is for your stomach, but art is for the soul. - Biman Nag, engineer-artist

Change before you have to. The worst mistake is to do the right thing for too long. - John Chambers, Cisco

Developing a growth mindset, like anything else, is about willingness and commitment. - Marcus Ranney

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).