‘Rejection is a thing you learn first in entrepreneurship’ – 35 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 35 gems and insights from the week of May 13-19 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.

A clear vision is always the first step towards achieving a goal. - Navin Surya, Payments Council of India

Not all startups need funding, but all of them need visibility. - Aanchal Gupta, Brand Balance

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period. - Brene Brown

Give importance to your analytical skill, but also be your own first critic. - Nilanjan Guha

If necessity is the mother of invention, then scarcity is its grandmother. - Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu, 'Do Better With Less'

Startups with innovative ideas often face the following challenges: risk-avoiding culture, lack of potential investors, and lack of culture to accept and recover from failures. - Oliver Hunke, EXIST

Nobody talks about the journey of failures and how it is normal. We need to start accounting for those as well in all the stories we write and talk about. - Anna Chandy, Live Love Laugh Foundation

You can either turn the volume down or completely mute the naysayers from your life. - Vandana Shah, Divorcekart

Rejection is a thing you learn first in entrepreneurship. Nobody prepares you for rejections. The biggest thing about entrepreneurship is to deal with rejection on a constant basis and then still come out of it all right. - Naveen Tiwari, InMobi

It's cool to see a young brand disrupting the tech landscape. - Robert Downey Jr

Fintech companies in the country are filling in the gap left behind by the traditional banking sector, and this is happening by using the power of technology and innovation in AI. - Ashish Anantharaman, ZestMoney.

AI or any new-age technology will face the ‘Iron Triangle’ of healthcare (access, quality, and cost) test to prove its worth. - Sanjay Pathak, 3i Infotech

We are living in exciting times where innovative technology solutions can help change the social fabric and solve some of the most pressing problems for India. - Ashok Pamidi, Nasscom Foundation

Product managers would agree that the insights and algorithms offered by data scientists can propel a product into another realm altogether. - Hemanth Kota, Tesco

Industries like tourism, retail, ecommerce, apparel, real-estate, and automobiles are likely to be the front-runners in the integration of VR/AR technology into marketing. - Chaitanya Hiremath, Scanta

The use of smart contracts would result in faster cycle time and reduced cost and fees and lesser possibility of fraud. - Prashant Shah, Vegavid Technology

Almost every fifth work force migrant in Sweden is a programmer from India. - Anna Gissler, Invest Stockholm

The mom and pop store is here to stay. Look at India’s consumption patterns and the way its network is built around the locality. - Kumar Vembu, GoFrugal

India makes an attractive laboratory for social innovation. - Yuko Aoyama and Balaji Parthasarathy, ‘The Rise of the Hybrid Domain’

You have fantasy leagues happening almost 350 days of the year. - Sumesh Menon, U2opia Global

Voice interactivity will be the primary mode of interaction for Digital India. - Akash Ambani, Reliance Jio

Groundwater, the only source of drinking water for the people of Kolar, is at a high risk of contamination from Bengaluru’s wastewater. - Anjaneya Reddy

If there is no education, children of the poor will continue to remain poor. - Anup Gayen, Piali Ashar Alo School

Consumer trend is moving towards convenient and healthy food choices. Unfortunately, there are not enough options available in the market. - Mohit Gulati, ITI

Learning of linguistics is a slow paced and never-ending process and encouragement to practice further is more important than correcting errors. - Ritesh Rawal, Ritesh Rawal Foundation

Informing farmers of the right export opportunities and the procedural knowledge for exports will go a long way in farmers earning better incomes for themselves. - Rajesh Aggarwal, Insecticides (India)

People don’t know about faecal sludge and they simply don’t care! - Radharani Mitra, BBC Media Action

Identifying the exact cause of death in aquatic animals is extremely difficult. - Arul Prakash

The concept of sustainable tourism points towards a considerate way to travel the world, ensuring that the natural, social and artistic environment of any place is not disturbed. - Narayan Menon, Wandertrails

We should plant one tree a day, and everyone should plant at least one tree during their life. - Gopal Mullaivanam, Tree Bank

Just as leaves come naturally in a tree, so also art should be intrinsic to yourself if you want to become an artist. - Dr S. Vishnu, artist

Be unstoppable and grow day by day. Embrace new developments and innovations. - Mihir Desai, The Bar Stock Exchange

There are a lot of opportunities that are more than just earning for your daily bread. - Divya Jain, Safeducate

The greatest thing in our lives is that our bodies support us through it all. - Sarvesh Shashi, SARVA

Do you want to cherish the memory of the person who has left you or do you want to feel miserable thinking about the person? That answers lies within you. - Sadhguru

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