‘A company with strategy knows how to win’ – 35 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 35 gems and insights from the week of April 13-19 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our special compilation of quotes related to India’s coronavirus responses here.

Innovation in the product is an important ingredient if you want to build a successful and sustainable business. - Deepika Goyal, Popcorn Furniture

Product value proposition, in reality, is so much more than the subtitle you write on your website, or the hyped words that you scratch on your banner. - Anushmani Ruddra, Hotstar

The best brands give something back to their communities. - Giles Lury, ‘From Ideas to Iconic Brands’

A company with strategy knows how to win. The company without a strategy only knows how to look very busy, because they do not know what they have to do to win. - Savio Kwan, ex-Alibaba

Most technology companies are looking for people who have the patience and intellect to analyse the problem at hand thoroughly before jumping into providing a solution. - Abhimanyu Saxena, InterviewBit

Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat. – Ann Landers

The next shift we are seeing is through the API economy where the user won’t have to go to the bank’s app but the bank/financial services is coming to whichever app the user is using. - Sahil Kini, Setu

As a data scientist, you will need to regularly make yourself uncomfortable. - Kunal Jain, Analytics Vidhya

The amount of data we generate on a daily basis can determine so many different things. To top it, algorithms in AI and deep learning have the ability to pick up patterns faster and evolve. - Prashant Warier, Qure.ai

EVs are significantly more economical considering the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of an asset. - Shreyas Shibulal, Micelio

Cloud computing can provide a small business with affordable access to various tools, programmes, and applications they require. - Gaurav Jalan, Packman Packaging

There has been a noticeable increase in enterprises’ appetite for automating the entire source-to-pay process in recent years. - Prayank Swaroop, Accel

As digital experiences become more connected and global, the need to automate from the user’s perspective will continue to grow. - Brien Colwell, HeadSpin

Small businesses can scale up if they are able to leverage and optimise usage of digital platforms. - Tamanna Dhamija, Baby Destination

People living in concrete buildings have no idea how these eco-friendly or non-concrete structures are made. - Prerna Prasad, Ecoplore

Irrespective of our understanding and appreciation of the medium, public art gives us the opportunity to interact intimately with the pieces. - Anu Menda, RMZ Foundation

Art helps us identify with one another and expands our notion of ‘we’ - from the local to the global. - Olafur Eliasson

Pandit Ravi Shankar, the peerless musician, put Indian music and our culture on the global map. Achieving that in a non-digital era is no small feat. - Sukanya Shankar, The Ravi Shankar Foundation

Our country is blessed with a vast and relatively untapped repository of rich artisanal skill sets; what is needed is channelling their creativity to cater to an urban audience. - Asha Sairam, Studio Lotus

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. - Marcus Garvey

Encourage the youth to have a vision for the future. - Saily Lad, Volksara

Having a passion for football has numerous benefits, starting with fitness and health, character building, being part of a team, coordination, discipline, and respect. - Khushi Shah, Surat City United

Several tribal groups do not have even basic facilities to lead a decent standard of life. They are either unemployed, exploited or extremely reliant on agriculture. - Shubhasish Chakraborty, 'Travels through Spaces of Orality'

Isn't it unfair to see a woman just being a housewife, or just being a professional, or just being so one-dimensional? How can you take away from them everything else that they are? - Kirti Kulhari

At the end of the day, what matters is that the work gets done, and how many barriers are overcome each new day. - Maitri Shah, Mind Assets

Not all investors are the same. Before you approach anyone to present your idea, it is extremely important to thoroughly research your investor. - Deep Sisai, HukumKaIkka

Over the last few years, 18 out of India's 30 unicorns are Chinese-funded. - Sandeep Jhunjhunwala, Nangia Andersen

It is important to understand that in agritech, farmers can be segmented just like any group of consumers. - Mark Kahn, Omnivore

Even today, the food supply chain to a large extent is still manual and subjective. - Milan Sharma, Intello Labs

India is one of the largest producers and exporters of leather in the world. - Arjun Aggarwal, Bhartiya Group

The Indian baby and kids industry is still at a nascent stage and quite unorganised as a sector, with either big giant players or local players in your neighbourhood markets. - Veronna Damani, 'veronna'

India is different. It is neither the US nor China, and needs its own first principles-based answers. - Amit Sharma, ShopX

It's easy to do what you want to do if you are led by what interests and inspires you, and not by the need to make money. - Srila Chatterjee, BARO

If you truly pour your heart into what you believe in, even if it makes you vulnerable, amazing things can and will happen. - Emma Watson

A healthy mix of paranoia, optimism and delusion helps ride the ups, downs and sharp curves that the journey throws at you. - Vivekananda Hallekere, Bounce

It is going to be difficult in the first few years, especially if you are bootstrapped, there will be moments of doubt but it’s all worth it. - Chenddyna Schae, Jus’ Trufs

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).