‘Do not be afraid of being ambitious’ – 50 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From ambition to achievement, witness the memorable journey of Indian entrepreneurship in these excerpts and stories! 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 50 gems and insights from the week of March 12-18 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

Entrepreneurship is a process and any process can be taught. – Uday Phadke and Shailendra Vyakarnam, ‘Camels, Tigers and Unicorns’

India needs to create 20 million new jobs every year, for the next 20 years. - Nitin Pai, The Takshashila Institute

We have a perennial problem with freshers, only two percent of them are qualified for engineering jobs. - Krishna Kumar, Sasken Technologies

Technology-driven tools and solutions are the key to finding top talent today. The sooner businesses realise this, faster will be their growth. – Ketan Kapoor, Mettl

Smartphone-based discovery of services will change the way micro entrepreneurs learn and reskill themselves. - TN Hari, BigBasket

Innate learning and self-learning is a great skill. - Pramod Jajoo, Kalaari Capital

At the company level, workplaces with greater diversity have been found to be more innovative and tend to grow better, while retaining top talent. - Ritu Gupta, Trak N Tel

When we talk about diversity. it should enable one to bring one’s individual authentic self to work. Inclusion is all about making the difference work. - Sachi Krishana, Amazon

In India, women account for just 20 percent of our GDP. The challenge is to take it close to the global average of 44 percent. - Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog

India is set to become one of the largest markets for data centre infrastructure. - Prasanna Sarambale, Sterling and Wilson

If you didn’t focus on India, you actually may miss something born as a result of the unique market here. - Rob Salvagno, Cisco

The traits of successful entrepreneurs haven’t changed much in the Digital Age: you need more builders than branders. – Scott Galloway, ‘The Four’

Every single line item translates cumulatively into culture. – Sanjay Anandaram

When the right people come together at the right time for the right reason, amazing things happen. - Rishabh Kaul, Belong

A quieter segment of entrepreneurs are truly the unsung heroes – running small businesses of catering/cooking/ beauty/accommodation. – Aditi Balbir, V Resorts

One of the main reasons why startups fail is because co-founders have difficulty in aligning their thought process and end up fighting. – Vishwas Mudagal, GoodWorkLabs

Enterprises will need to continuously invest in creating agile and unique customer experiences. - Asutosh Upadhyay, Axilor Ventures

Successful corporations do not get built by accident. You have to create processes that work, and processes that scale. - Anjali Bansal, TPG Private Equity

Success is best when it can be replicated. – Sundar Murthy, Grishma

You should stop calling yourself a startup when your company has achieved a sustainable long-term goal and reached a defensible position, both financially and in the marketplace. - Meghna Agarwawl, IndiQube

Don’t try to squeeze in your whole story into a few minutes. With this, you risk diluting the key message and your unique selling proposition. - Madhurima Agarwal, NetApp Excellerator

A good leader is someone who is able to get the right balance between SOP – Strategy, Operations and People. - Rahul Agarwal, Lenovo India

There is a disconnect between the lab and the industry. That is where mentorship comes in. - Rakesh Rajiv, SINE

The important thing is to have a mentor externally and internally, one who will guide you, assist you, and show you the way. And, then of course a sponsor. - Rohini Anand, Sodexo

The amount of AI and blockchain you can use in logistics is unparalleled. - Gazal Kalra, Rivigo

One of the best possible solutions for the transformation of procurement organisation has been Blockchain. - Jigyasa Kishore, Moglix

Machines have successfully transformed all of us to speak at a particular pace, pitch and volume. - Shivananda Koteshwar, Mediatek

Organisations must focus on re-strategising and realigning their resources to favour the use of innovative technology. - Seema Kumar, IBM

Why can't we have an 'Uberisation' of staffing? Why can't you match people with requirements using an app? - Parthasarathy NS, Mindtree

You can't just pick an algorithm and think of changing the business. You need a lot of experimentation with the algorithm and understanding. - Avi Patchava, InMobi

The year 2018 will see a sharp increase in demand for professionals with skills in emerging technologies. - AG Rao, ManpowerGroup

Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change almost always provides opportunities. - Klaus Schwab, WEF

Do not be afraid of being ambitious. - Emilie Moulard Anand, Medela India

One of the key drivers of growth for any new packaged food brand is sampling and impulse purchase in stores. - Rohan Mirchandani, Drums Food

The most successful entrepreneurs are passionate about what they do, and experienced a problem that they want to solve. - David Brown, Techstars

A sharp focus in a few crucial areas can make a big difference when it comes to cyber resilience. - Larry Ponemon, Ponemon Institute

It is impossible to create a non-hackable system. Aadhaar opens up a minefield of security lapses. - Kunal Kislay, Integration Wizards

A mutually beneficial partnership between the government and tech companies needs to be established for effective risk mitigation. – S. Sundararajan, i-Exceed

The Indian startup space is still patchy. E-commerce has taken root, but what is the next big thing? – Beerud Sheth, Gupshup

Two of the biggest strengths of Canada are its brand and a sensible and forward-thinking immigration policy. – Vikram Rangnekar, MOV North

For Bahrain, finance has always been an important sector. It contributes 16 percent of the country’s GDP and is the second-highest contributory after oil and gas. - Khalid Saad, Bahrain Fintech Bay

The financial services market in India is primarily untapped, with 40 percent of the population having no association with any bank. - Prakash Mallya, Intel India

Consumer lending to the blue-collared workforce is a large, untapped, and hard to solve opportunity. - Vikram Vaidyanathan, Matrix India

About 50 percent of the SME merchants in the country are creditworthy but they have been excluded from accessing loans based on traditional underwriting methods. - Piyush Khaitan, NeoGrowth

One of the main challenges in online lending is ensuring good risk management while offering a fast and easy process. - Harshit Vaishnav, Credy

The future is getting stranger and reality is a harsh mistress. - Sidu Ponappa, Go-Jek

A writer should serve as a mirror that shows our society what it really is, opening avenues for rational discourses. - Jithin Emmanuel Jacob

It’s difficult to make things easy. You need to keep that in mind while you’re designing. - Amber Krishnan, PayU India

Design is a modern day art form. - Sonu Mulchandani, eStudio

Art helps you explore deep within yourself, with new media, and across cultural boundaries. – Ushmita Sahu, Building Bridges

Try and find, and/or connect your mission to a larger purpose. This will infuse your work with an energy and passion that will make it long-lasting and impactful. - Ramji Raghavan, Agastya International Foundation

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special. – Stephen Hawking

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).