‘Customers are the greatest product managers’ – 35 quotes of the week 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 30 gems and insights from the week of January 4-10 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.

Founder journeys are about taking the long road, and all start with relationships and trust established early on with their investors. - Sanjay Nath, Blume Venture Partners

Founders need not become just business advisors, but also leadership coaches as they take their ideas forward. - Ajay Batra, Wadhwani Foundation

Do not enter startups or entrepreneurship with the herd mentality. Or to make big money - it is the worst way to make money; there are far better ways. - Vamsi Krishna, Vedantu

With the disruptions of 2020 behind us, a true test of 2021 will be how companies replatform and build on the cloud not only for resilience but agility and innovation. - Karan Bajwa, Google Cloud

Leadership is never given on a silver platter, one has to earn it. - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

There is light at the end of the tunnel, never stop fighting. You might need to change directions, dig a little deeper, but always keep fighting. - Ritesh Agarwal, OYO

If today is a low day, the next day will be better. - Neeraj Dhir, A-Star Clothing

Exit is a crucial aspect of the Private Equity ecosystem primarily to build credibility and capability. - Shivani Bhasin Sachdeva, India Alternatives

The continued innovation, right decision-making, and strong investor commitment have positioned the Indian startup ecosystem as a key contributor in accelerating India’s digital economic growth. - Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM

The logistics industry in India is worth $200 billion, which is 15 percent of the nation’s GDP. The cost incurred at the early-mile is about 30 percent of the total delivery cost, which is around $50 billion. - Arpit Sharma, RangeAero

As demonstrated by over 600 agritech startups, innovations can go a long way in improving farm economics with improved yield, reduced cost of inputs, and empowering farmers to de-risk against commodity price fluctuations, monsoon failures etc. - Hemendra Mathur, FICCI

Unlike food delivery or ride-sharing, the grocery delivery market in India is far from conquered. - Kaivalya Vohra, KiranaKart

Fleet operators and large farmers will begin to demand autonomous robots for activities like weeding, spraying, and harvesting that involve a lot of labour and have high human error rates. - Omnivore report

It’s a paradox that India still remains energy-deficient with rampant power cuts. We receive an average direct solar insolation (DNI) of 5-6 Kwh/m2/day. - Lakshmi Santhanam, Renkube

Air pollution has been ignored for a long time and there is a nice opportunity to innovate as well as set a benchmark in terms of a sustainable business. - Sanjay Maurya, Ubreathe

Moving to a green economy and creating green jobs is an essential part of the changes needed for a better ecology. - Nithin Kamat, Rainmatter Foundation

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Accessibility and availability of financial services are major challenges that hamper the financial inclusion of rural and underserved segment. - Dilip Modi, Spice Money

Malnourishment occurs at both ends of the spectrum; it is not only due to poverty, but also because of a diet that is rich in sugar, salt, and junk food with preservatives, artificial flavours, and colours. - Shauravi Malik, Slurrp Farm

Every customer who is looking to undergo any hair treatment is expecting trust and transparency. - Pradeep Kumar Sethi, Eugenix Hair Sciences

Women, when allowed to participate equally in their economies, drive growth. They not only invest in themselves and their businesses but also in their families and communities. - Pallavi Tewari-Madhok, WWB - India

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A business story is a narrative with a strong human element, has plenty of anecdotes, and showcases journey milestones. - Sunil Kant Munjal, Hero Enterprise

A good business book has to tell a good story/stories. The stories have to be drawn from real life, have to be credible, interesting, and should carry powerful lessons. - TN Hari, 'The Making of BigBasket'

Business books must be read by non-business people. This is possible only when the writers believe in simplicity. - Tamal Bandyopadhyay, ‘HDFC Bank 2.0’

A book allows you to write about that business in a way that provides a bird’s eye and a worm’s eye view at once. There’s a lot more nuance, depth, and range. - Mihir Dalal, ‘Big Billion Startup’

Our cultural legacy as a society should be judged by the art we create and leave for posterity. - Edem Elesh, Chitra Santhe

The reason why Indian art forms are dying today is because the profession is not economically sustainable. - Kartikeya Goel, Karfa

Once it's done, preserve your work so that the voice of your soul inspires someone else to listen to the voice of their own soul, even centuries later. - Geeta Arya, Chitra Santhe

Don't do things looking at others. Learn about yourself, know your passion and go behind it. - Rishab Khanna, Khanna International

Often when you start young, you are taken for granted at every step. - Tanisha Valralwars, Tsara Cosmetics

Students graduating from micro hubs can be a great asset to the organisation if they are rightly trained and leveraged in suitable roles. - Kashish Jajodia, Draup

It's better to have small dreams that you can achieve and not big illusions that you can’t. - Harwinder Singh Dhiman, Roop Traders

Try to understand how a metric is derived from the underlying data and not get fooled by metrics. - Gaurav Ranjan, Prime Venture Partners

You’ve got to solve for the end consumer and you have got to have those metrics that you really have to constantly work on. - Naveen Tewari, Glance

Customers are the greatest product managers. - Baskar Subramanian, Amagi Media Labs

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).