‘Equity is the most expensive asset for a company’– 60 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 60 gems and insights from the week of January 20-26 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our compilation of Top Entrepreneurship Quotes of 2019 here.

Today, innovating at scale isn’t just key to succeeding, but also surviving. - Vinita Gera, Dell Technologies

A brand with a solid moat assures itself of long-term profits, sustainability, and a healthy market share by successfully keeping the competition at bay. - Amit Somani, Prime Ventures

Conversations are our superpower to solve the problems that we face. But that power can only be kindled when all the participants are truly activated. - Vinay Kanchan, 'The Madness Starts at 9'

Unless you really slice the dice at a granular level and understand what is happening on the ground in any industry, you cannot truly understand what the industry’s problem statement is. - Siddharth Talwar, Lightbox Ventures

There is a 170-year gender gap between men and women, and this isn’t just in terms of jobs or salaries. The difference is across the board. - Anisha Singh, She Capital

Companies are finally opening their doors to hire members of the LGBTQ+ community. - Ankita Mehra, ‘Q-rious’

We need to reset the relationship between humans and nature. - Dominic Waughray, WEF

When the competition density is higher, it becomes difficult to work on a path of sustainability. - Rohan Agarwal, RedSeer

India stands at a moment where it is executing a series of infrastructure moves that can change the future for the better. - Abhijeet Katte, Datum

India is ready for the next leap in great consumer brands. - Vinay Singh, Fireside Ventures

Investors are annoyed that they are taxed higher, especially when they are injecting capital into a very primary activity like building a business. - Siddarth Pai, 3one4 Capital

Infrastructure cost remains high for startups. If you look at the rental as the percentage of revenue, it still accounts for a high-interest rate. - Srini Vudayagiri, Peepul Capital

More than 60 percent of Indian engineers are unemployed and are not equipped to work on coding frameworks as required by new-age tech companies. - Utsav Somani, AngelList

The global neo-banking market expected to grow up to $394 billion by 2026. India, too, has started to experience the neo-banking revolution. - Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Venture Catalysts

For the longest time, financial services for the next billion have been non-existent in our country; when available, they have been an arms' length engagement. – Ravi Garikipati, Davinta Financial Services

When it comes to the tech skilling landscape, data analysis is taking centre stage in India’s growth story. - Srikripa Srinivasan, Dell Technologies

Shared mobility not only reduces the traffic but also frees up parking spaces, which in Indian cities is anywhere between 12-15 percent of the total usable real estate. - Vivekananda H.R, Bounce

Parking is a massive problem faced across all major urban cities in India. - Amit Lakhotia, Park+

People in India like skill games and love to be incentivised. - Ankush Gera, Junglee Games

MSME Business is growing rapidly in India and business owners are now taking initiative to shift to technology. - Amit Singal, Startup Buddy

Fashion in India is heavily influenced by the films and superstars who command a massive fan-following. - Amar Nagaram, Myntra Jabong

The Indian office supplies market is highly unorganised, with nearly 95 percent of all procurement and sales falling into this category. - Pushpamitra Das, Z Nation Lab

Startups from Tier II locations get their unit economics ahead of time but what they lack is advisors, mentors, and knowledge on ways to leverage technology. - Lathika Pai, Microsoft

The car accessories market in India has come a long way in the last couple of years. A lot of innovation is happening in the car accessories market. - Puneet Arora, AutoFurnish

Bengaluru will lead India as the epicentre of innovation in the age of disruption. - T V Mohandas Pai, Aarin Capital

Andhra Pradesh is the first state in the country to introduce blockchain in land records and is also setting up a Blockchain Centre of Excellence to set up India’s first Blockchain state. - E Venkatesan, EMURGO Academy

We have this incredible young generation and you can see that with everything that is happening in India right now. - Priyanka Chopra

India is one of the most important markets for the largest French companies, with France being the 9th largest foreign investor in India. - Jean-François Ambrosio, Business France

There is now a surge of young SaaS players who are on the way to making India a SaaS powerhouse. - Sairam Krishnan, Freshworks

SaaS startups have an enormous opportunity globally. The funding has increased too. - Shekhar Kirani, Accel Partners

Ayurveda has been perceived as boring, old-style, and poorly packaged – something for the older generation. - Arjun Vaidya, Dr. Vaidya's

The best way of staying healthy is by maintaining a healthy gut. Most lifestyle diseases can be linked to the gut. - Gurmeet Singh Arora, Flax

The shared economy concept has percolated all aspects of society, creating unprecedented disruptions as well as opportunities. - Aditya Virwani, Embassy Group

Data has amplified its value because of AI and ML. - Ravi Chabbaria, NetApp India

Fighting cyber fraud requires the concentrated effort of everyone in the ecosystem including financial institutions, telcos, police machinery as well as the government. - Satish Gupta, Paytm Payments Bank

Smart devices are transforming how people shop. - Ari Sarker, Mastercard

What if the consumer benefit from their data as well as advertisers? More work needs to be done around data dignity - and new business models in the 2020s. - Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Companies are altering their business models to leverage data and give customers the best experience possible. - Sheenam Ohrie, Dell Technologies

Data sovereignty is important for every country, and that needs to be taken into account in any data protection framework in any part of the world. - Sundar Pichai, Google

Attribution is becoming the core of the marketing tech stack. - Alex Crisses, General Atlantic

Artificial intelligence is only a tool or an enabler. The larger picture is something else: solving consumer problems is more important. - Sudipta Banerjee, Wynk Music

With too many apps in the market, it will not be astonishing for users to demand a super app. - Satish Zope, AGSTTL

End customers, be it consumers or businesses, are expecting things to reach them faster than ever. - Dhruvil Sanghvi, LogiNext

Travel has to be an experience. Clients who go to an expert or company want insights on the destination rather than just pricing and inclusions. - Mohit Poddar, Shoes on Loose

Education across levels is the best form of empowerment. - Deependra Kumar Jha, UPES

Most children between the grades of one and six love participating in games and classroom activities. - Shalini Ilanahai, Math Love

The unit economics of cloud kitchen businesses can only be sustainable if the overhead expenses are drastically cut down. - Karan Tanna, Ghost Kitchens

Cloud kitchens are being considered as a smarter way to run the online food delivery business that has a blank space to reach successful profit margins. - Anshu Raj, Caterspoint

Demand-supply interactions are becoming very unpredictable and vulnerable, resulting in huge lost revenue opportunity. - Shailendra Singh, Samya.ai

Co-living is transforming traditional renting. The change is driven by a highly mobile millennial workforce and a growing student population with a new mindset. - Dhruv Agarwala, Housing.com

Traditional banking is changing. One of the biggest differentiators in the future will be an advisor’s ability to deliver real-time, highly personalised investment experiences. - TCM Sundaram, Chiratae Ventures

Photography is about much more than equipment and technique. It is also about composition, communication and creativity. - Vinay Sane, Pratibimba

It is important to believe in yourself and showcase your art regardless of appreciation or criticism. - Shridhar Deshpande, Sheil’s Photography

The more you experiment and the more you work, the faster you are likely to find what truly inspires you. - Suvarna Kamakshi, Tamaala

As a designer, it is very tough to keep aside the creativity and go with what the market desires. - Ageerika Hari, Vaitaanika

Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected. - Kasturba Gandhi

There are no failures or successes in life; nothing is final in any event. One has to take the little accomplishments and disappointments in one’s stride, learn from them and move on. - Vish Dhamija, 'Lipstick'

As in any field and, more so, in wildlife, things take time and one has to persevere. There are no quick results or shortcuts. - Amoghavarsha J S, ‘Wild Karnataka’

The best way to foster a more cohesive and inclusive society is to provide everybody with a decent job and income. - Klaus Schwab, WEF

Financial inclusion is the cornerstone of resilient communities and households. - Carol Lake, JP Morgan

The traditional process of raising capital is complex, cumbersome, and doesn’t work for all enterprises and business owners. - Bhavik Vasa, GetVantage

Equity is the most expensive asset for a company. – Kushal, Myadvo Techserve

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).

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