‘Responsibility and freedom go hand in hand’ – 50 quotes from Indian startup journeys
From rights to responsibilities, witness the memorable journey of Indian entrepreneurship in these quotes, excerpts and stories!
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 50 gems and insights from the week of August 5-11 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.
Money, you can give it away and make it again. Time is a perishable resource. - Nandan Nilekani
Don’t wait for the ‘right moment.’ If you want to do it, put in the right kind of effort and positivity. - Suruchi Parakh, Suruchi Parakh Couture
We need an aspiration-linked, strength-based approach to career and performance management. - Anindya Shee, Cipla
The truth is, no matter how resourceful or hardworking one be, nobody can do everything. - Samira Gupta, AIMC
There will be failures, stumbling blocks, but if you have the confidence, the resilience, and perseverance, you can succeed against all odds. Sometimes, you create phobias around you that are non-existent. - Shalini Warrier, Federal Bank
Access to the right information and a close-knit support system of fellow entrepreneurs whom one can trust can work wonders at multiple levels. - Agnelo Rajesh A
The best innovation (in a sector) comes from people who don’t come from that area. No fintech startup has come from anybody who knew anything about fintech. - Vinod Khosla
IoT, AI, machine learning, and blockchain are the direction of future technologies for smart city and smart living. - Tom Wolf, RIB Group
The ability of robots to understand objects, especially in clutter and randomness, to grasp and manipulate with accuracy has been an elusive unsolved problem in robotics till date. - Gokul NA, Vyuti Systems
In the digital world, one of the most important things you need to build for is resilience. Being down and unavailable is not acceptable. - Madhusudan Shekar, AWS
Fraud has been the albatross around ecommerce companies' necks for the longest time. - Harshil Mathur, Razorpay
An increasingly important metric to understand today is the cost of an enterprise data breach. - Anuj Kapur, Lucideus
One of the major concern parents have is that the existing teaching methodology is not at par with the latest technology or trends. - Amalore Jude, Modo Edulabs
It is imperative for policy makers to work in concert with industry, startups and learning institutions to come up with a coherent strategy to build out India’s indigenous tech stack as well as the high-tech giants in all layers of the stack. - Vamsi T Mohun, IFIT
Digital lending is revolutionising access to capital for MSMEs. - Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments
Innovation is a core driver of economic and business growth and job creation and must be one of the main areas for new policy on youth entrepreneurship. - Amit Dwivedi, EDII Ahmedabad
India’s waste management sector would be worth $13.62 billion by 2025. - Rachit Chawla, Risers Accelerator
India is the world's biggest market for scooters and motorcycles, which makes the opportunity for electrification huge. - Rahul Sharma, Revolt Intellicorp
People are consuming more Indian language content and that has a lot to do with the fact that smartphones now enable users to consume video in an affordable manner. - Sajith Pai, Blume Ventures
India has an opportunity to tap into its existing pool of mathematicians, statisticians, and programmers and nurture this talent to leverage their skills for analytics and AI. - Prakash Mallya, Intel India
The Indian fashion industry is now being recognised globally. - Abhishek Agarwal, Purple Style Labs
Even if you are stuck on Mars, the Indian Embassy will help you. - Sushma Swaraj, former External Affairs Minister
Businesses spend a lot of money and time as a result of unpredictable and unreliable freight movements. - Mudasar Mohamed, Ezyhaul
I think India is a very important market in the long term. It's a challenging market in the short term. - Tim Cook, Apple
Coworking has changed the way commercial real estate business is conducted globally and has picked up a lot of steam in India. - Kshitij Sheth, ChrysCapital
The digital photography industry is worth nearly $110 billion, with millions of photographers working as freelancers. - Sanjay Kumar, Spyne
The agricultural set up in India is deteriorating due to lack of earnings, erratic rains, small and fragmented land holdings and over-dependency on chemicals. - Kumar Neeraj, Khetee
It’s a great time to be an agri-entrepreneur as data and technology revolution grips the agriculture sector in India. - Avishek Gupta, Caspian Impact Investments
Solving for the pain points of farmers, right from input procurement to financing to output market linkages makes for a huge opportunity. - Kitty Agarwal, Info Edge
India has added internet users at 8x speed in the last 10 years, driven not by large cities but by small towns and villages where users are entering the digital ecosystem due to access, affordability, and aspirations. - Anil Kumar, RedSeer
If you look into the north eastern states, there is an abundance of skilled designers and craftsmen as handloom is a major source of livelihood for them. - Sharda Gautam, Tata Trusts
Rural India accounted for 25 million of the 36 million households, which faced catastrophic health shocks, while urban India accounted for the remaining 11 million. - Arushi Jain, StayHappi
Having a coworking space in Tier II and Tier III cities will not only have the potential to initiate reverse migration, but also has the potential to create a vibrant ecosystem of entrepreneurs. - Alok Kumar, Work Studio Coworking
Around 80 percent of people in India live in the villages and more than 80 percent of doctors work out of cities and towns. - Shreyans Mehta, Medcords
This is the best time to be an investor in India, create a thesis about the market opportunity, and partner with companies at the seed stage. - Mayank Khanduja, SAIF Partners India
There is an enormous opportunity in taking Indian startups to the US. Indian SaaS businesses have done very well there. - Amit Jain, ZNation Lab
The online gaming industry in India is growing marvellously and is poised to grow even faster. - Saurabh Chopra, BalleBaazi
What people want most is to feel heard, without judgement. - Jo Aggarwal, Wysa
When there is a sense of ownership – without being an actual owner – work becomes a calling. - Rashmi Bansal, 'Shine Bright'
Nothing clears the way for intrapreneurship like the ability to connect with real customers’ pressing needs. - Simone Ahuja, 'Jugaad 3.0'
Brands are increasing their digital spends and entering into a continuous conversation with their customers. - Deepa Bhatia, YouGov India
Be passionate about learning - what is there today is going to change tomorrow, but the learning process cannot stop. - Dinesh Ajmera, Atlassian
As we delve deeper, IoT and wearable startups as well as analytics startups will play a key role in making predictive healthcare a reality for India. - Sugandha Agarwal, Docttocare
Operating and convincing regulators of the workings and benefits of bike taxis is a continuous process. - Aravind Sanka, Rapido
With more urban development expected in the corporate sector and the leisure market, coupled with increased disposable income, the consumption pattern for all organised quick service restaurants is poised for a continued growth. - Parthiv Neotia, Tea Junction
It is often a huge challenge to be able to find honest, organic, and wholesome food for our kids. - Priyanka Shetty Sridhar, Mimmo Organics
People consume tea, coffee, candy, and other foods and don't give their teeth the necessary dental care that is required. There is the common myth that brushing once or twice is all that is needed. - Amarinder Singh, Clove Dental
People who are not conscious of what they eat don’t often realise that there are repercussions to what you eat. - Aftab Shivdasani
Let’s just leave the world in a good way – be it for humans or animals. We should not wait for the heroes to do something for the environment, we should become one. - Srini Swaminathan
Design today is not the traditional norm - aesthetics and cosmetic. It’s catapulted to center stage today as consulting firms acquire design powerhouses to spearhead their ideology and growth. - Nandita Abraham, Pearl Academy
Something that is loved is never lost. - Toni Morrison
Always have a vision or a goal, so that you channelise your energy in the right direction. Analyse your positives and shortcomings, accept your flaws, and strive to break barriers. - Anshula Verma, HappyFitYou
Responsibility and freedom go hand in hand. If you don’t want to take responsibility for your actions, you can’t enjoy the freedom either. - Bhisham Bhateja, The Man Company
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).
