‘The power of togetherness is the greatest power of all’ – 70 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 70 gems and insights from the week of March 23-29 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.

Tough times call for tough measures, executed through compassion and empathy. - Agnelorajesh Athaide, VNCT Ventures

Coronavirus is bent on killing people therefore entire humanity must unite and resolve to eliminate it. - PM Narendra Modi

The group most prone to coronavirus includes homeless people and migrant labourers, who commute from one place to another on a daily basis to make ends meet. - Priya Sogani, Akshat Drama Group

As humankind, we have gone through innumerable ups and downs of a similar nature (similar not the same). - Amit Somani, Prime Venture Partners

Urgent emergency resources need to be deployed to cope with the needs of fighting the COVID-19 crisis, which is one of the toughest challenges the human race will face. - Ratan Tata

The world is currently putting up a spirited fight against COVID-19. It is critical that corporate houses assist the government in the fight. - Anil Agarwal, Vedanta Resources

Aggressive, sustained public health action from the community right from the Head of State can have a profound effect on the trajectory and the outcome of this pandemic. - Michael J Ryan, WHO

Widespread testing is critical to track the scale and prevent the transmission of COVID-19. - Alexander Kuruvilla, Practo

Contact tracing plays a very critical and crucial role. - Revathy Ashok, Strategy Garage

The last few days have been like a war. Our doctors and workers are working full-time. It is a post-majeure situation. We cannot take it lightly. - Vikram Thaploo, TeleHealth Apollo Hospitals

The country has seen an unprecedented upsurge of over 1,400 percent in sanitation products, and over 500 percent in disinfectants in the last two weeks alone. - Pradeep Dadha, Netmeds

Hand-sanitiser was a sleepy product in India until just three months ago and now you see every second person asking for this product. - Aishwarya Sawarna Nir, Aishwarya Healthcare Group

The coronavirus outbreak has brought in a situation where people are finding it necessary to consult doctors as even the smallest of symptoms can be a sign of the infection. - Alexander Kuruvilla, Practo

Due to Covid-19 scare, there are disruptions in the supply chain because of economic slowdown. - Madhu Sudhan Bhageria, Filatex India

As lockdowns are imposed in other global manufacturing hubs, besides China, the extent of impairment to global supply chain and global growth is likely to increase. - Arun Singh, Dun & Bradstreet India

If COVID-19 uncertainty is prolonged and supply chain disruptions get accentuated, the global slowdown could deepen, with adverse implications for India. - Shaktikanta Das, RBI

Despite authorisation, Bank Mitras are still facing harassment from local authorities, with the police forcing these individuals to shut their establishments and outlets. - Seema Prem, FIA Technology Services

People in India have learnt respiratory hygiene. Many are wearing masks. - Dr Ravi Malik

Drivers and merchants are selfless heroes. They work so we can stay at home, giving support for our daily activities. - Andre Soelistyo, Gojek

Nothing is more important than your health and that of those around you. - Vishal Punjabi, The Wedding Filmer

Part of the challenge lies with the fact that there is no universal standard definition for force majeure, and they often vary across agreement types and industries. - Sonam Chandwani, KS Legal & Associates

Humanity will rise and we will win this war. Until then, #StayHomeStaySafe. - Mahesh Babu

We are suddenly seeing a rise in request from startups building products to solve lockdown and remote working situations. - Trilochan Verma, Intense IP Services

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused high stress on startups, putting their continuity at risk. They are looking to governments to provide support and relief. - Nasscom

A startup that makes it through, is literally going to be 10X stronger because they lived through the hardest period not seen in a 100 years. - Rajan Anandan, Sequoia India

As a business leader, you have to think through possibilities, and you can’t get blindsided by them. - Avnish Bajaj, Matrix Partners India

This is the right time to differentiate good costs from bad costs, the good-to-have spends versus absolutely necessary spends. - TN Hari, Fundamentum

Delay hiring, but retain existing staff. Give them that security. - Shreya Narayan

The bar for Series A investments and above will definitely go up, and a lot of focus will be on unit economics rather than ideas of wild scale. - Sanjay Swamy, Prime Venture Partners

This is perhaps the best time for distribution to go digital. - Lalit Bhise, Mobisy Technologies

In these changing times, brands need to adapt technology to their retail operations as well if they hope to survive. - Lokesh Kumar, Clickpost

Our life is about respectful cohabitation. - Sathya Raghu V. Mokkapati, Kheyti

Everything in life has some risk, and what you have to actually learn to do is how to navigate it. - Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

There are milestones in history where seemingly insurmountable differences dissolve to reveal a convergence of goals. - Arun Mohan Sukumar, iSPIRT

The power of togetherness is the greatest power of all. - Iti Rawat, WEFT

Young Indians are using their imagination to create options – economic, political, cultural – in the unlikeliest of spaces. - Snigdha Poonam, 'Dreamers'

With fraud transactions and card misuse being a major concern for any business, purchase cards help in preventing this. - Hemant Vishnoi, EnKash

The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the banking ban is an encouraging sign for the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem in India. - Olaf Carlson-Wee, Polychain Capital

Businesses across India are facing disruption in areas like digital banking, lending, payments, and risk management. - Charles Zhang, Advance.ai India

We need to celebrate women founders a lot more. - Rajan Anandan, Sequoia Capital India

The whole thing about maternity and the leave period is a big thing for a woman in her life. - Samiskha Bajaj, Samshék

Bias is a bias, the more you focus on it, the more troublesome it will get. - Yashodhara Bajoria, CAXpert

The preschool space is a great fitment for women willing to begin their journey as edupreneurs. - Prajodh Rajan, EuroKids International

Foods can be remarkable to improve stress resilience and the solution is not fancy fad diets, but simple steps which you can add every single day. - Deepa Kannan, PFNR

For the immune system, the magic potion is simply the right nutrients, sleep, exercise, and no smoking. - Anu Acharya, Mapmygenome

One must ensure that there is an increase in consumption of Vitamin C; this can be found in amla, citrus fruits, and supplements, among others. - Prashanth Reddy, Anvaaya Kin Care

People interested in pursuing a healthy, nutritious lifestyle should choose organic botanicals over the conventionally-produced herbs. - Rishabh Chokhani, Naturevibe Botanicals

In developing countries, changes in diet patterns, increased use of processed food, exposure to pollutants, sedentary lifestyle, and overuse of antibiotics have changed our microbiota. - Surendra Chikara, Bione

Respiratory illnesses are one of the major reasons for mortality around the world for children. - Gautham Pasupuleti, Biodesign Innovation Labs

Shine the light on causes like preservation of nature. - KR Kumaran, 'The Sentence'

Art is a great method for relaxation and stress relief. - Shridhar N Upadhye, The Living Walls

Art is therapeutic for the artist as well as art lover. – Harsha D’souza, Kadri Rocks Art Gallery

The knowledge and learning that you gain by being involved in arts is immense. - Kavita Iyer, Young Artiste 2020

By preserving the art in your business, you give it a soul that people connect with. - Scott Belsky, 'The Messy Middle'

Several children with disabilities are extremely creative and passionate about their art. This deserves to be recognised and rewarded. - Sanaa Beriwali and Aarushi Barai, Young Entrepreneurs Academy

If you put learning on chat, it’s easy because of the byte-sized nature of the conversation. If you want to learn fluency, you have to be in a conversational ecosystem. - Ninad Vengurlekar, Utter

The next trend is the transformation of learning from a generic, one-time investment into a hyper-personalised, lifelong process. - Harjiv Singh, BrainGain Global

There are so many brands in the world and a lot of people are stereotypically dressing up the same. - Rina Singh, Eka

Can you still be a part of the enchanting world of fashion, knowing that the very dress or shirt you wear has killed marine life, polluted fresh water, and drastically impacted natural resources? - Hitesha Deshpande, PECKD

A sure-shot way to be consistently productive through the day is by planning your work. - Malini Agarwal, MissMalini Entertainment

The shelf life of skills is decreasing and whatever people learnt in college is quickly outdated in three to five years. - Parul Gupta, Springboard

Establishing a business requires a different set of skills from sustaining it. - Ashu Khanna

User acquisition that is purely paid is a recipe for limited success. - Vaibhav Domkundwar, Better Capital

Innovation needs a robust ecosystem to support an entrepreneur’s transition from idea to scale. - Yousuf Caires, Expo 2020 Dubai

Dream big and work towards manifesting your dreams. - Madhuri Vardhinedi, Ennoble Technologies

If you align with what you enjoy, you have increased likelihood of being successful. There are many long periods of difficulties, and people who enjoy the process are the ones who come through. - Nicholas Tornow, Twitter

You need to be fearless and be ready to accept failure. You keep on learning new things only if you are ready to experiment and go out of your comfort zone. - Chef Devwrat Jategaonkar

The faster you try, the faster you will learn where to improve. - Jagdish Chaturvedi, ‘Starting Troubles’

In order to survive, you have to keep reinventing yourself as per the demands of the market. - Narayan T Poojari, Shiv Sagar

Don't do it for money, because money will follow. Do it because it makes a difference. - Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon

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).