From idea to IPO: 20 quotes on startups and scale-ups from TechSparks 2021
From acorn to unicorn, we present 20 quotes on the entrepreneurial journey from YourStory’s premier TechSparks 2021 conference.
Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our recent articles. Share these gems and insights from the TechSparks 2021 speakers with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.
In this special collection of quotes from YourStory’s TechSparks 2021 coverage, we present insights on creativity, resilience, and scale by successful founders and tech leaders. See our earlier quotes compilations from conference editions in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014.
Check out our profiles of the Tech50 startups of 2021, and Tech30 startups over the years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.
Startups are built for a greater purpose. So the enthusiasm to innovate is visible at every level. - Varun Mayya, Scenes by Avalon
Today, a lot of startups are growing and taking as little as 18 months to become unicorns. - Kulmeet Bawa, SAP
Three years back it was I am Abhay, and he is Vivek, and we are building Licious. Today, it is the other way around. It is Licious building us. - Abhay Hanjura, Licious
The journey of entrepreneurship is going to be a journey of highs and lows. It's what you signed up for. – Naiyya Saggi, BabyChakra
Nine out of 10 things go wrong when you are an entrepreneur, and you must keep charging on. - Ankiti Bose, Zilingo
It has to do with your aspiration as an entrepreneur and as a collective what you are looking to do. That guides the velocity of the engine and what horsepower and speed that it needs to take. - Abhay Hanjura, Licious
The participation of women entrepreneurs in companies with 10 employees and up is dropping rapidly, especially in the tech space. We still have a huge gap to cover, and one of the reasons is how time-consuming being an entrepreneur is. - Diane Janknegt, WizeNoze
We are now seeing women entrepreneurs aligning themselves with communities, which is helping them with networking, business understanding, and access to capital. - Sunitha Ramaswamy, LetsVenture
Entrepreneurs need to stay connected to the context and the environment, and nurture the ability to pick up trends while sticking one’s neck out and taking a few risks. - Shailendra Katyal, Lenovo
As a founder, your role is to unblock people and understand why it isn’t happening? And get in there and unblock people. The engine is run by the people. - Harshil Mathur, Razorpay
It is the quality of the founder who will always attract talent and build teams. - Gopal Srinivasan, TVS Capital Funds
ESOP is a critical tool for founders because it’s a tool to drive entrepreneurial behaviour. Employees start thinking of themselves as owners of the company, and go the extra mile to ensure the company succeeds. - Vikram Sivaraman, Qapita Fintech
Employees should have a clear understanding of how much they are liquidating, and founders should provide clear visibility on numbers, especially for the younger employees. - Shantanu Deshpande, Bombay Shaving Company
There is a strong ecosystem of founders, legal companies, and startups that help other startups accelerate the initial process today. - Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Zetwerk
Companies succeed because you back phenomenal founders. - Priya Mohan, Venture Highway
The brand is decided by the founders and what they believe in. Consultants just help in drilling it down. It is a living and breathing organism. - Harshil Mathur, RazorPay
In the early days, you have to live the brand. When it comes to scaling, what becomes extremely important is creating ownership of the brand. - Abhay Hanjura, Licious
Every company that has become a unicorn has slogged for the last eight-nine years to be where they are today. - Virendra Gupta, Dailyhunt
The most fun thing in life is to have a company of your own, where you can keep building things. - Steve Wozniak
Magic happens when the vision is shared. - Rachana Gupta, Gynoveda
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).
Edited by Suman Singh