‘One excels only at the things one truly enjoys and is willing to work hard at’ – 55 quotes from Indian startup journeys

Launched in 2014, 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 55 gems and insights from the week of April 29 – May 5 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our compilation of Top 50 Quotes from 2018 here.

An organisation is more like a chromosome – one that evolves when new people join the team at senior levels. - Deepinder Goyal, Zomato

If founders aren’t consciously keeping soft targets for themselves to create diversity, then they are missing out on a very important source of talent. It is their loss. - Aakash Goel, Trifecta Capital

Innovation is inherently messy, but it needn’t be chaotic. - Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig, Ben Pring, ‘What to do when Machines do Everything’

India is bubbling over with opportunity, promise, and, above all, entrepreneurial talent. - Nadia Sood, Credit Enable

India is home to some of the best technology talent in the world and is known for its incredible innovation. It has even recently surpassed the US in the largest amount of Internet users. - Sunil Jose, Salesforce India

The Indian startup scene is entering a third phase, building products for the world. - Mukesh Aghi, US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum

India should not only be building AI solutions that reshape businesses globally but should also empower people leading to sustainable development. - Debjani Ghosh, Nasscom

Creating the next generation of startups is the need of the hour. - Srikanth Srinivasan, Nasscom

Currently, India is on the verge of a digital revolution, and so, being an entrepreneur in this space is quite rewarding. - Hiren Shah, Vertoz Advertising

In the near future, elections must be fought on the education manifesto. As long as education does not become an election issue, change will never happen. - Soham Ghosh

The resilience of the people of Odisha and extensive preparations for evacuating and sheltering over a million people in the face of Cyclone Fani has further cemented the state's capabilities in disaster preparedness. - Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

The Indian shopper is evolving and takes for granted certain comforts which the online retail boom has provided. - Jash Choraria, Unifynd

Jewellery retail in India is an extremely fragmented market. The majority of stores are single stores across the country, with only a handful of regional brands. - Meghna Saraogi, StyleDotMe

India's total wireless data usage will reach 13 exabytes/month by 2025, which is five times that of current data usage. - Prashant Tarwadi, India Ratings and Research

Voice and video are going to define the next phase of digitisation of India. For the next 500 million to be able to embrace and exploit digitisation, voice is the only option. - Sandipan Chattopadhyay, MiHup

Indian vernacular internet is a big blue ocean market that people have never been served before. - Hanson Hu, Morningside Venture Capital

The only way you get TRP is by sensationalism. By being tabloid. By yelling and screaming. And that’s what the industry is having to follow. - Vikram Chandra, editorji

A large pie of commercial real estate leasing will transcend into co-working spaces. - Mansi Agarwal, Co-Offiz

Remote work is an early trend globally driven by a shortage of high-quality local talent, rising cost of living in key technology hubs, and widespread adoption of enabling infrastructure. - Rajat Agarwal, Matrix India

People have to get used to shorter tenure of work. - Sanjoe Jose, Interview Master

Long Haul Road Transportation is a $150 billion industry for India. - Rajesh Yabaji, BlackBuck

As for the charging infrastructure, there has to be a consistent standard of charging across the country and no one has figured out that part yet. - Saurabh Markandeya, Adarin

The beauty and wellness market is consistently growing, but the industry has been running on outdated technology. - Shekhar Kirani, Accel

Consumers continue to hold on to their phones longer than before as newer higher priced models offer little incentive to shell out top dollar to upgrade. - Anthony Scarsella, IDC

If one were to look at Europe alone, there is an ever-increasing demand for vacation homes with an increasing trend of booking an entire home. - Maninder Gulati, Oyo

If peanuts are grown here, then why not make the peanut butter here? - Chetan Kanani, Alpino

Proactive, consistent, and professional investor updates are not just an obligation and responsibility but also an opportunity to show that you are diligent, accountable, and transparent. - Anand Kulkarni, AhaPitch.com

A mutual understanding between the lead and founders can essentially help in building a successful company. - Shanti Mohan, LetsVenture

Micro-enterprises contribute 37.5 percent to India’s economy and employ 20 percent of India’s workforce; over 100 million people. - Manish Khera, Happy Loans

Access to capital for MSMEs is still a concern as all the banks want more than or equal to 100 percent collateral of the loan amount. - Abhinav Gupta, Expedite Foods

With 40 percent of the population having no association with any bank and more than 80 percent of transactions carried out through cash, financial services are largely underpenetrated in India. - Harsha Bhogle

Frictionless recurring payments are a critical element of subscription businesses. - Kiran Vasireddy, Paytm

There is tremendous potential in the small and micro lending segment. - Vikram Gupta, IvyCap Ventures

Parents and schools are realising the importance of customised education based on a child's competencies and interests. - Ritika Amit Kumar, The Young Chronicle

The vastness and complexity of India's education system creates a real problem for both universities and corporations looking to hire. - Hershel Mehta, Mehta Ventures

Today, most attacks are state-sponsored, and if you look at the future, there are bots that harvest now and encrypt later. – Sunil Gupta, QNu Labs

A major issue that distributed storage systems face is to maintain the consistency of data when they are accessed concurrently by multiple operations. - Prashant Shah, Vegavid Technology

Business leaders everywhere are augmenting their workforces with software robots. - Daniel Dines, UiPath

In order to nurture your leads and keep your customers engaged, you need to master email marketing. – Deepak Kanakaraju, OptinChat.com

Organisations and leaders need to be accountable for the choices they make and the HR policies they formulate. - Nandita Bhatt, Martha Farrell Foundation

For a labourer, every day spent not working is a potential day’s wage lost. - Gayathri Vasudevan, LabourNet

One must focus on making an impact and enjoying the journey. - Sathya Natarajan, Area Sabha Association

The time is not far where women drivers are specifically requested, as they simply tend to be better trained and skilled than others. - Aishwarya Raman, Ola Mobility Institute

Things don't work out as you like or plan, and it’s imperative for everyone to be good at learning human behaviour. – Kunal Shah, Cred

Collaborations are vital to bringing about large-scale impact in the water space. - Asim Bhalerao, Fluid Robotics

Technology is a huge displacer and milk is something that needs to be displaced or optimised from the current channel. - Ebhrahim Akbari, Doodhwala

Sensitising people about various disabilities helps them develop a sense of empathy. This is the only way discrimination and stereotypes can be avoided. - Shakti Cajla, Anuprayaas

Stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, depression, and obesity have become a global epidemic for people of all ages. - Sarvesh Shashi, SARVA

When was the last time you remember a name of a branded pillow? - Shashank Palli, Cuddl

Math is regarded as a nightmare by many students. Most people even wonder how math can be hands-on. - Manasa Guttu, Agastya Creative Campus

The commercialisation of art is as important as the passion associated with it. - Abhinav Singh

Creativity takes courage. - Kushboo Rathod

Find your voice. Don’t create content in space that is already saturated. And start. Immediately. - Saloni Srivastava

It doesn't matter how many years you live; what matters is how much you live in those years. - Dimple Parmar, Love Heals Cancer

Ultimately one excels only at the things one truly enjoys and is willing to work hard at. - Aditi Chauhan, She Kicks Football Academy

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).

Also read: The Top 10 Books of 2018 for Entrepreneurs