‘You are not here to follow the pack’ – 25 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From due diligence to differentiation, 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 25 gems and insights from the week of July 3-9 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights!

For a startup in fashion industry, Mumbai is the best place. – Shikhar Khanna, Blinge

Tutors tend to be part of a fragmented market with very few brands recognised by consumers. – Pradeep Singh, Vidyanext

An aggregator model is what agriculture needs. - Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, Ekgaon Technologies

Hospitals in India do more of firefighting. We need to be more proactive when it comes to hospital management. - Anitha Arockiasamy, India Home Healthcare Services

Healthcare, education and agriculture are three priority areas in terms of technology, where the government can provide long term benefits to people of India. - Ravi Shankar Prasad, IT Minister

The government’s job is to encourage entrepreneurship. - Ramesh Abhishek, DIPP Secretary

As a nation, we do not have an ocean-oriented mindset—a sea ethic. And that, for the most part, carries forth into our governance too. - Tara Jain, marine biologist

There comes a point when you recalibrate. – Kunal Bahl, Snapdeal

The three-minute pitch enables VCs to understand how entrepreneurs can communicate their idea. - Siddhartha Das, Venture East

The ups have been raising money and the downs have been waiting for it. - Samit Choksi, Ulta Chaata

The focus of early-stage investors is now back on the conventional favorites, like technology, fintech and healthcare. – Mayank Rastogi, EY

You should not expect to see fruits before nurturing your plant. - Pardeep Goyal, Startup Karma

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. – Dalai Lama

In five years, technology will be advanced to make customers the centre of the universe. - Kavin Bharti Mittal, Hike

The explosion of mobile in particular has been one of those great inflection points. - Phalgun Raju, Morph.org

The joy of making a positive impact on someone’s life is incomparable. - Amisha Sethi, author

Backing the right team is of utmost importance, because they will have to manoeuvre and make things happen. - Harshad Lahoti, ah! Ventures

Non-financial metrics are the leading indicators of the company’s health. - Alok Goyal, SAIF Partners

Vision is great, but don’t forget the numbers, especially in the edtech space. - Sunitha Viswanathan, Unitus Seed Fund

Don’t ask for more until you make the best use of the things you have. - Naman Tiwari, app developer

Simply saying, ‘I want more’ is not as effective as giving a reason or rationale for why. - Margaret Neale, Stanford University

You can’t choose the life of an entrepreneur and then complain that the rules of the game are unfair. – Tanmoy Goswami, ‘Recasting India’

Your resume is just a piece of paper. Don’t let your past experience define your future path. - Roshnee Nilkon, Pink Lemonade

You are not here to follow the pack; you are here to chart your own path. - Sanya Kapoor, Magikbox

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).