‘The pandemic was the watershed moment for the Indian startup ecosystem’ – 20 quotes from India’s COVID-19 journey

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous edition here). This special series of compilations focuses on India’s COVID-19 struggle. Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2021 on Entrepreneurship, Investment, Digital Transformation, Storytelling, The India Opportunity, Pandemic Resilience, Failure Recovery, Design, and Art.

Since the pandemic, people have become more aware of the need to monitor the quality of air in their homes and offices. - Abhinav Gupta, ActiveBuildings

Due to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, many people suffered psychological distress. These days even doctors suggest that people go outside, in the midst of nature, for healing and reducing problems such as anxiety, stress, and depression. - Mukesh Kwatra, 'Awakening- Sailing through the Pandemic'

Specific to the crucial food space, changing consumer preferences and the shift towards a healthy lifestyle in post-COVID-19 times have significantly contributed to such [D2C] growth. - Chakradhar Gade, Country Delight

As per a McKinsey report highlighting Covid-19’s impact on women at work, globally one in four women had to leave the workforce during the pandemic. - Zoheab Rehaman, Plum

Due to the pandemic and trade being shut, several manufacturers and retailers found it hard to keep up with demand. - Shipra Dubey, Westinghouse India

Coworking has received a major boost after COVID-19 disrupted the previous status quo. A major factor driving demand is that these spaces are not concentrated in just the city centres or major employment hubs; they're spread across different areas, including the housing-intense suburbs. - Anuj Puri, Anarock

This year, the festivity is expected to be seen in all its glory, after nearly two years of being celebrated in close groups. - Nupur Nagpal, Myntra

COVID-19 changed the entire [D2C] landscape. - Arman Sood, Owl Coffee

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[The first pandemic lockdown in April 2020] is when digital content consumption surged. - Sunny Sen, ConsCent

Similar to Esports, India's mobile casual gaming market has witnessed prominence since the lockdown during COVID-19. - Lokesh Suji, Esports Federation of India

The pandemic got employees to ‘work from home’ (WFH) which entailed that they had to work with minimal supervision. Unlike the earlier times when they had to carry out our instructions, now they had to ‘think, reflect and act’. - Rajesh Srivastava, ‘The New Rules of Business’

We started the B2C business during the lockdown and we never thought that we would get a great response. - Sanket Mehta, Nutrifresh

I have been an artist for as long as I can remember and I have allocated four years to digital art. This passion especially grew over the pandemic. - Anuskha Balaraj, The Leap Gallery

Our website, warehouse, inventory among other things were ready. But we were sitting at home for two to three months to understand what we should do. - Abhishek Shah, Almo

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They [Stay Vista] have demonstrated extraordinary resilience in navigating the pandemic while driving record revenue growth in a capital-efficient manner. - Hari Premkumar, DSG Consumer Partners

[Reducing consumption] helps create cities that are greener, cleaner, with less traffic and less pollution as we did during COVID-19. - Vijaya Bhargav, Ostraca

In the pandemic, I found the use of the phrase “flatten the curve” a great example of how data storytelling takes a complex behavior and simplifies it for everyone. - Rasagy Sharma, Sundial

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The pandemic gave wings to a new set of authors. People who had the passion for writing but were distracted by the world of activity they were stuck in suddenly had the time, energy and drive to write a book. - TN Hari, Artha School of Entrepreneurship

Startup founders are many characters rolled into one. They are warriors, soldiers, and when need arises are resilient survivors. - Bhaskar Majumdar, 'Everything Started as Nothing'

The pandemic was the watershed moment for the Indian startup ecosystem. The rate of digitisation accelerated at a massive pace and leapfrogged by at least a few years. - Ujwal Kalra, 'Startup Compass'

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).