Inspiring quotes on entrepreneurship from Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal

Bhavish Aggarwal, the Founder-CEO of ride-hailing unicorn Ola, is no unknown face in the Indian entrepreneurship story. The app has nabbed the third rank on a list scoring the top ride-sharing and taxi apps for Android across the world. 

In 2010, when Bhavish Aggarwal and his IIT classmate Ankit Bhati wanted to head out on a weekend trip, they found it difficult to book a cab. Being techies and engineers, they thought of an idea: wouldn’t it be cool to be able to book a ride on an app? That thought led to the birth of Ola Trips, a Mumbai-based tour and travel operator, which pivoted into a ride-hailing service when the duo realised the market potential. 

The 34-year-old entrepreneur now helms operations that have quickly expanded and raised multiple rounds of funding, making Ola a poster boy of Indian entrepreneurship.

Recently, the Bengaluru-headquartered unicorn announced that it is operational in London too. 

So if you find his story inspirational, here are some quotes from Bhavish for entrepreneurs who are ready to chase their dreams and create technology that impacts millions of lives:

“All of us have an entrepreneur in us. Entrepreneurs are not driven by fear; they are driven by the idea to create impact.”

“Looking at the Indian startup ecosystem is a matter of perspective. On a macro level, the new economy is facing a few growth issues, banks are in trouble, but it also couldn’t be a better time for the Indian startups. It’s the best time for entrepreneurs. We have a very stable political situation in our country. We are gunning for a $5 trillion economy by 2025.”

“If we launch a new product, we have to time it right. It's not about how soon you can do it but how well we can do it.”

“All things can be done by every company in the world. Apple builds a phone, and so does Samsung. It's not about being different but about being better at what you do.”

“The challenge we face is in talent – it takes bandwidth and time to get talent and build a team.”

“Our generation has the power and opportunity to create the future not just for our country but to build the technological paradigms for the future for the world. It is a great time to be an entrepreneur in India.”

“Raising capital is not the toughest part. The toughest part is building a great team and making sure it's growing with the company.”

“Don't take shortcuts while building your company - keep trying for the best.”

“It’s easy to manage scale when you don’t have to make money, but when you have to build a real business, things change.”

(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)