‘Every roadblock or challenge is an opportunity to grow and learn’ – 45 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 45 gems and insights from the week of July 8-14 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.

Don’t wait for that big idea and, more importantly, share your idea. Speak to others and get feedback. - Harsh Jain, Dream11

Exposure is like dynamite for the curious mind. For a founder, it can shape ambitions, open minds to possibility, and ignite new ideas in unimaginable ways. - Vaibhav Agrawal, Lightspeed India Partners

Startups tend to focus on mainstream, but many times you need UX help and scenarios that can be broader. - Aloknath De, Samsung R&D Institute

In the long run, the employee-first mindset will attract the best talent, build a committed workforce, and achieve mind-blowing results. - Sanjay Shenoy, PixelTrack

Funding always helps get discipline and fast-track the growth process. - Nishant Kanodia, SKO footwear

In spite of all the technological advancements, phishing attacks and business email compromises still exist and account for losses worth $17 billion. - Prakash Baskaran, SecurelyShare

AI can be deployed in wearable technology and other medical devices to help detect potentially life-threatening diseases at an earlier, treatable stage. - Savitha Kuttan, Omnicuris

A true cryptocurrency should be resistant to attacks by all parties, from sovereign states to global corporations. - James Bennett, Bitassist

There are misconceptions about solar energy, for example, that it is very expensive. People don't know the basic facts about how useful it is in the long run. - Sushil Reddy

Student housing is a large and underserved need globally, but in India, the supply-demand gap is particularly stark because of a rapidly growing outstation student population. - Navroz D. Udwadia, Falcon Edge Capital

In the last few years, India has witnessed a rise in the cost of education in India, thus blurring the boundaries between domestic and foreign higher education. - Manik Kubba, Scholarship Facilitation Services

If we consider salary data of an employee over five years, you find that it generally increases over time. Unfortunately, the story of the Indian farmer is different. - Sathya Raghu, Kheyti

The Indian society does not tolerate failure; they look at it from a negative mindset. It’s very important that parents view failures as lessons to improve rather than see them as something negative. - Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico

Building ‘B2C’ businesses and ‘B2 Small B’ businesses is a tremendous challenge in India, compared to scaling businesses in China and the US. - Sarath Naru, Ventureast

Drought is a real problem. Sixty percent of agriculture in India has no irrigation and is totally monsoon dependent, which is why we have to use every drop of water. - Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar

Indian edtech firms attracting interest from eminent investors demonstrates that India is pioneering the digital learning space globally. - Byju Raveendran, BYJU'S

Home care will grow as there is a growing ageing population in India. Current statistics say that 90 million people have crossed 60 years of age. - Sunil Khurana, BPL Medical Technologies

The number of intercity travellers by road and rail is estimated to be over 50 million daily. - Manish Rathi, RailYatri

Businesses spend a lot of money and time as a result of unpredictable and unreliable freight movements. - Mudasar Mohamed, Ezyhaul

Finding new music is a major challenge as our music industry is now banking on remixes. - Meghaa Isrrani, Signature Films

User-generated content (UGC) has become the new point of entry for first time-internet users in India, making the country the largest data consumer in the world. - Sachin Sharma, TikTok India

In the next five years, the smartphone business will grow to about $16 billion a year as feature phone market transitions to smartphones. - Sanjay Kaul, Sofyx

Food wastage in India happens at multiple levels – harvesting, transporting, processing, packaging, and consuming. Someone has to do something significant to address this core issue of our country. - Deepinder Goyal, Zomato

The electric vehicle segment has tremendous potential to disrupt the market because of government policy focus as well as the larger cleantech ecosystem. - Gajendra Chandel

Today India is well on its way to becoming a Digital Colony as most of our largest digital startups are substantially owned by overseas investors. This must be remedied on priority by the government. - TV Mohandas Pai, Aarin Capital

Small businesses in the ecommerce space find it challenging to understand and implement GST changes and adapt to them quickly. - Archit Gupta, Cleartax

Given the low penetration of insurance in the country, most Indians remain vulnerable to life’s unpredictability. - Anand Kumar Bajaj, PayNearby

Even though entrepreneurs rarely engage with Doordarshan, the step to dedicate an exclusive channel for startups would help Indians gain more exposure to the world of entrepreneurship. - Ritesh Malik, Innov8

Bengaluru has 14 million people, and nearly half of what they flush reaches the lakes. - Tharun Kumar, ECOSTP Technologies

As part of our daily routine, we spend a significant amount of time commuting, cooking, using computers, or exercising. These are times when our eyes are busy or tired but ears are free to listen. - Pratham Khandelwal, Headfone

People sometimes don’t even know why they buy insurance. They buy it because of tax reasons and they don’t have goals. - Mallesh Reddy, InsureMile

Anyone who aspires to become a racer should follow their heart and go for it. - Aishwarya Pissay

There is this mutual respect sportspeople have for each other despite all the competitiveness. - Karan Ambardar

Mother nature has blessed us in abundance, but we as a society need to make an effort to sustain the resources provided to us. - Shitalkumar Bhatia, Goverdhan Greens

Although we are humans, we are not the superior species. We do have a responsibility to help other lives. - Sai Vignesh, Almighty Animal Care Trust

You have to be okay with your idea changing. You cannot fall in love with it. This is an extremely hard pill for a techie to swallow as we techies have the habit of putting in a lot of effort to build the perfect software. - Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho

As an investor, you need to be comfortable with the uncertainty of the investments you make and many times, your surprises will not be pleasant. But that is fine. - R Thyagarajan, Shriram Group

There will always be challenges but they make you stronger, and this is all part and package of learning. - Dipna Anand, Brilliant Restaurant

If something is important enough you should try. Even if the probable outcome is failure. - Elon Musk

Be honest about how you approach failure. Don't just be critical of yourself, because that can be self-serving. - Megan Rapinoe

It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. - Bill Gates

Success is not achieved in a day. It takes years of perseverance, hard work, and dedication! - Meenal Arora, Director, Shemrock Group of Schools

Every roadblock or challenge is an opportunity to grow and learn. - Pinky Daga, Thriive Art & Soul

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