‘Driving a startup is like driving into a tunnel’ – 25 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 December 14-20 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.

Build a business around what you love to do and it will not feel like a business. - Nithin Kamath, Zerodha

There is sheer genius in simplicity and conciseness. - Anirudh Damani, Artha Venture Fund

The key is to have a long term goal and solve problems sustainably. - Harsh Pokharna, OkCredit

Dreams do not come true just because you dream them. - Shonda Rhimes

We always talk of privilege in terms of money. But privilege in terms of knowledge is also huge. - Gaurav Munjal, Unacademy

These days, companies prefer talent-based recruiting over skill-based recruitment. - Abhishek Gupta, HexnBit

The younger generation is conscious about how their product acts, behaves and are concerned about the way their companies use their resources. - Eric Bienvenu, Dassault Systèmes

Millennials chase a superior customer experience for every product and service. - Pankaj Singh, Multiliving Technologies

Indian osteoarthritis patients generally come back to the hospital only at very severe stages of the injury. By then, it has already become a surgical case. - Anmol Ajay Saxena, Ashva Weartech

A lot of PwDs in India have never entered a retail space because they are inaccessible in terms of ramps, physical infrastructure, etc. - Vineet Saraiwala, Atypical Advantage

The cosmetic and dermatology procedural treatment market size is currently around Rs 100 billion, which is expected to increase to double in the next three to four years. - Ankur Bansal, Blacksoil

India is unique in that women put in an enormous amount of time into unpaid care (almost nine times as much as men). - Soumya Kapoor, IWWAGE

The gap between India and Bharat is still wide. - Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for MSMEs

Of the food grains worth $130 billion produced by India annually, there are huge losses in primary and secondary markets due to lack of storage, forcing farmers to sell off-cycle for lower returns. - Prasanna Rao, Arya

India Post stood the test of times by serving the nation through various postal services digitally and physically during the nationwide lockdown. - Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications

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We think of wildlife as the tiger, the polar bear, etc., but every city is blessed with wildlife. - Alpana Bhartia, People for Animals

Our food, soil, and water are all contaminated with everyday items. - Sunita Jaju, Rustic Art

New ideas are needed for positive development, and waste management and material recycling are fundamental components of a circular economy. - Karl-Johan Persson, H&M Foundation

When you sleep well after a good dinner, you ensure that you will make the right choices with all your meals the next day. - Deepa Kannan, PFNR

As a connoisseur, it is important to keep innovating and offering consumers a unique and different experience with every wine. - Vivek Chandramohan, GZV

Raising funding at a beta stage or pre-PMF stage is challenging for founders — it becomes too risky vis-a-vis the traction for larger VCs unless the founders come with a proven entrepreneurial track record. - Mihir Jha, PointOne Capital

The startup and venture capital ecosystems have become more mature. Businesses that have come in after 2015 are operating very sensibly, in terms of unit economics, burning cash, and more. - Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments

The employee stock option is not to give economic benefit only, but to really give that emotional feeling of ownership that we are all equal and we count. - Rashesh Shah, Edelweiss Group

If you want to bootstrap, you need to have some edge – either you need to have deep pockets or some core competencies. - Nithin Kamath, Zerodha

Scaling-up magnifies everything by 10X, the shiny brilliance as well as the dark spots and the grey areas. Startups that fail to align all the moving parts and tie all the loose-ends, risk tripping on their own shoelaces. - Puneet Pandey. Open Strategy & Design

Driving a startup is like driving into a tunnel. - Alok Goyal, Stellaris Venture Partners

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).