‘Every mistake is a chance to re-engage the customer’ – 40 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 40 gems and insights from the week of November 30 – December 6 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.

At its core, entrepreneurship is an unstoppable force. Regardless of what is happening around, pure entrepreneurs are going to do what they are meant to do, and solve for a problem they are passionate about. - Larry Illg, Prosus Ventures

More recently, we have seen founders working on ideas that are solving India specific problems in a specific way, rather than being a clone of successful models in China or the US. - Ashutosh Sharma, Prosus

The Indian startup ecosystem has a growing appetite for entering the capital market. Now more companies want to raise capital from a broader set of investors with a public listing. - Varun Sridhar, Paytm Money

Serial entrepreneurs are a rare breed of individuals who are fearless about taking the leap of faith (for the second time) and making things happen. - Alex Peter, The Quartile Company

Founding teams must possess street smarts, as well as prior skills and experience as the startup culture is all about getting hands dirty, multi-tasking and learning on a day-to-day basis. - Monica Mehta, Wadhwani Foundation

There are huge gaps and lack of opportunities faced by women entrepreneurs — especially when it comes to accessibility to network, mentorship, and fundraising. - Shweta Rajpal, Sequoia Capital India

There is growing interest in corporate accelerators as an accelerated innovation, change and transformation, and adaptability or agility vehicle for established organisations. - Richard Busulwa, ‘Startup Accelerators’

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MSMEs are prime movers of rural economy and they add to inclusive growth in the rural community. - AK Tripathy, Assam Chief Secretary

Traditionally, retail in India has been a high-cost yet low-margin business. - Mani DevGyawali, The New Shop

It is rather obvious that only if gender parity is achieved, can India timely cross the $5 trillion GDP mark. - Anas Rahman Junaid, Hurun India

Punjab enjoys huge popularity in the citrus fruit sector, and there is a growing demand for the citrus bioenzymes in metropolitan cities like Bengaluru. - Vipesh Garg

Electric planes can really disrupt aviation over short distances characterising urban aerial mobility. - Satya Chakravarthy, The ePlane Company

On a pure commercial basis, renewable energy today is 30 to 50 per cent cheaper than coal-based power. - Sumant Sinha, ReNew Power

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Only math can scale up Indian curries globally. - Saransh Goila, GBC

The growing $2 billion fruit juice category has huge opportunities. - Abhijeet Pai, 9Unicorns

Almonds are not only a healthy snack, they are also a beauty food due to their nutritional value. - Geetika Mittal Gupta, ISAC

Truth be told, weight loss should not be for an occasion or a reason. In fact, anything that you do too quickly is probably not good for your health. - Deepa Kannan, PFNR

Regenerative medicines hold promise for the future. Not just do they treat symptoms but repair and restore the body's natural balance. - Vasanthi Palanivel, Seragen Biotherapeutics

The nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Collective action is required to address the needs and challenges faced in creating and providing assistive tech solutions. - Chapal Khasnabis, WHO

Governments have their own rural outreach programmes but eye health is not considered a priority, as the general understanding is that people don’t die from blindness. - Jayashree Kumar, Sightsavers India

Being vocal will reduce the stigma. The social taboo surrounding HIV/AIDS harms people’s life socially and economically. - Jahnabi Goswami, ANPP

A loving home and family is the right of every child. - Kiran Modi, Udayan Care

Children are extremely caring, and if you created a planeteer at a young age, you have saved the planet for years to come. - Alia Bhatt, Ed-a-Mamma

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Weavers sell to a limited market, making it difficult to sustain and leave the profession. The lack of decent wages is driving away the younger generation to take up the activity as a profession. - Dinesh Suram, Pickmycloth

Significant art rouses emotions in us to help others. - Sangeeta Juneja, Gallery ArtChill

There are always going to be bad things. But you can write it down and make a song out of it. - Billie Eilish

We need to innovate to remain market leaders and at the same time. - Shruti Aggarwal, StashFin

Complacency never finds a place in the arsenal of an entrepreneur. - Sandeep Aggarwal, Droom

If you stop learning, you may be setting yourself up for a failure. - Manbir Kaur, ‘Get Your Next Promotion’

Focus on your goal and success will come along. - Kanika Agarrwal, Upside AI

The highs are super high and the lows are super low. - Beerud Sheth, Elance

Everything makes a difference. Don't feel pressured to come up with something big. - Gitanjali Rao

Persistence is key. If that means your vision might have to go through a pivot but your values and your mission remain strong, then that is the sweet spot. - Elisa Birnbaum, ‘In the Business of Change’

We all strive to be happy. The path to such happiness and satisfaction depends on non-judgement and inner-nonviolence, and this takes time. - Radhika Bapat

There is no one single playbook to generate the right demand strategy, there are multiple ways to generate demand. - Ashu Garg, Foundation Capital

People who were successful in one company may not be successful in another company. - Cosmin Nicolaescu, Brex

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Nobody wants to buy the same product that you did 10 years ago. - Puneet Bery, KSP Inc

Talking to prospective customers and understanding the market is not a one-time effort, but a continuous process. - CS Murali, IISc SID

Customer testimonials simply light up our day. - Sheta Mittal, &Me

Every mistake is a chance to re-engage the customer. - Vinay Kanchan, 'Sportivity'

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).