‘Cooking Maggi will not make you a cook' – 55 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From foundations to formulations, witness the memorable journey of Indian entrepreneurship in these quotes, excerpts and stories!

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 55 gems and insights from the week of January 21-27 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our compilation of Top 50 Quotes from 2018 here.

Sell the problem before selling the solution. - Pavan Soni, Inflexion Point

Being an early-stage founder is possibly the toughest job in the world. - Shailendra Singh, Sequoia Capital

A product is not a sales deal, or a contract, or few lines of code, or a design. It’s a journey. - Taruna Manchanda, Swiggy

You will never be 100 percent satisfied with the final version. But you just have to learn to let go. - Samira Kanwar, Vice Media

Steady marketing creates a following; that is what gives a startup value. - Mohandas Pai, Aarin Capital

You are measured on how well you grow despite customer churn. - Krish Subramanian, Chargebee

We have always been told since we were children that if you work hard you get everything in life. However, at times you have to work smart to get there. - Anirudh Kheny, 1Q1 Kitchen & Bar

Organisations who have succeeded in hiring persons with disabilities most often come back to hire more. - Moses Chowdari Gorrepati, Enable India

Have an open and observant mind, and peel away the layers of what you see around you just like an onion. - Alka Mathur, artist

It is failure that gives you the proper perspective on success. - Ellen DeGeneres

Amul is still owned by farmers. 13 million farmers own a $5 billion business and the management keeps 16 per cent, rest all profits to the farmers. - Neelam Chhiber, Industree Foundation

India is blessed with plentiful biodiversity, but we must all work hard to preserve it. Conservation should focus on all species, and not just a few. - Prasad Natarajan, Artists for Wildlife and Nature

From Yoga to the nuclear triad, from tapping our ancient knowledge systems to adapting to 21st-century international dynamics, we are making a mark across all domains. - PM Narendra Modi

Promoting our Republic Day as an important celebration will build an ethos of respect for the nation. People must not forget that freedom comes at a cost. - Colonel Varun Bajpai

Over 8 lakh newborn babies die in India every year. Many from neonatal jaundice. If they get the right treatment at the right time, they can be saved. - Kiran Kanthi, LifeTron

India's top 10 per cent of the population holds 77.4 per cent of the total national wealth. - Oxfam report

India's radiologist to population ratio is extremely low at 1/100,000, which leads to long lead time in analysing and reporting on X-rays and scans. - Milind Shah, Unitus Ventures

Digital technology is changing lives of Indians across every section of society. - Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of Industries & IT, Telangana

The ecommerce market is not closed yet. The demand is very fluid. - Devangshu Dutta, Third Eyesight

Players with seamless experiences across channels will be able to derive competitive advantages over others. - Devangi Parekh, Aza Fashions

Through football, you can get people together. Hopefully, this is one of many ways to bring peace to the Kashmir region. - Prashant Godbole, Ideas@Work

The gaming industry is booming in India and digital transactions are only going to go up. This is slowly changing the dynamics of the gaming industry as well. - Kumar Apurva, Querka

New types of sensors can more accurately measure environmental impact across an organisation’s sites, effectively acting as highly sensitive artificial “noses” calibrated to different forms of output. - Johan Paulsson, Axis Communications

AI can act as a means to bridge the gap between the rich and poor in the state. - Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

India needs true solutions to tackle major problems including middlemen intervention, data breaches, corruption, and tampering of financial ledgers. And, blockchain seems to be the most viable solution. - Abhishek Pitti, Nucleus Vision

In the past few decades, public sector banks’ (PSB) share in lending to the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector has gone down alarmingly. - Vivek Tiwari, Satya MicroCapital

Peer to Peer Lending is an emerging sector in India and we believe it will play an integral role in shaping the Indian consumer credit market in the near term. - Avnish Bajaj, Matrix India

Payment technologies like UPI, currently open only to the B2C segment, will further drive adoption of digital payments when rolled out to the B2B segment. - Vivek A G, Finly

Fintech companies offering mobile wallets will evolve as an effective option for day-to-day and customer-centric consumption. - Gaurav Gupta, MyLoanCare.in

The initial grants for research is one big challenge. When you are patenting the idea, you don’t need VC funding but support from government labs and institutions. - Monika Jha, Cydee Technologies

Venture capitalists' love of digital health companies is evident. - Raj Prabhu, Mercom Capital Group

The need of the hour is for MSMEs to take the lead and make digitisation an integral part of their business strategies. - Sumit Gupta, YES Bank

Deployment of collaborative robot tech will help Indian companies realise creative potential of their teams by engaging them in higher value-creation activities. - Praful Shende, BFW

In the long run companies divided as tech and nontech will not exist. Every company will have tech as a fundamental pillar. - Sandipan Chattopadhyay, Xelpmoc

App reminders for arriving buses and trains, more e-charging stations, and high-speed, grid-based transportation are the future of the way we commute. - Jeetender Sharma, Okinawa Autotech

Two-wheeler ride-sharing is unlocking new customer base in India by bringing convenience at an affordable price. - Jeffrey Yam, Integrated Capital

A company that can execute well in the micro-mobility space could become a large company serving the domestic market. - Varsha Tagare, Qualcomm Ventures India

Not every story needs to be told on the big screen. What this (OTT) has done is open out the avenues for different kinds of storytellers, actors, producers. - Manish Aggarwal, ZEE5 India

Platforms catering to the vernacular audience focus on content consumption use cases and nobody has tried to build a community or discussion platform. - Rahul Chowdhri, Stellaris Venture Partners

If an employee of a company is too busy with investing in startups, it might impact their work performance. - Vikram Gupta, IvyCap Ventures

The rise in video-based learning is leading to a newer concept called microlearning wherein bite-sized videos with succinct information are shown to learners. - Ishan Gupta, Udacity India

From a one-time education, we have moved to continuous education. - Vivek Kumar, Springboard

While people skills will remain at the heart of all HR roles, managers will need to adopt skills in AI, data analytics, and automation to further augment HR practices. - Abhijit Kashyape, Monjin

We have to think beyond our companies. - Girish Mathrubootham, Freshworks

Relative scale brings along responsibilities as well. - Rohit Ramasubramanian, Zefo

Chess is a game that requires vision and not visibility. There is a thin line of difference between the two. - Darpan Inani, National Blind Chess Champion

Where decision-making is concerned, the devil indeed lies in its layered details. - Nandini Vaidyanathan, 'Entrepedia'

Third-generation coffee businesses are moving towards a more discerning coffee drinking culture where the community is connected with producers. - Poornima Katyal, Third Roast Coffee

There is a huge potential in small towns and villages, and it is important for the village youth to address the challenges they face through innovation and technology. - Biswajit Paul, QuickOBook

To be sustainable, we don’t have to migrate to the cities but bring the services of the cities to the villages. - Rajvir Rana, WorkationX

The future generation will strive towards a trash-free environment. - Sudha Mahesh, Shrine Vailankanni Global School

Have a positive body image - everybody comes in different shapes and sizes. Accept yourself, and work towards a healthy you. - Shona Prabhu, NutrifyMyDiet

Less than 5 percent of food and consumable products in India are natural or herbal. - Ameve Sharma, Kapiva Ayurveda

Practise ‘intuitive’ eating. Understand what your body needs and eat accordingly. - Janvi Chitalia, Body Cocoon

Cooking Maggi will not make you a cook. To be a cook, one has to work with the raw materials. - Rohith KN, FutureReadyKids

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).