'You need to win on price perception and not just on price' – 25 quotes for startups from MobileSparks 2017

MobileSparks 2017 wrapped up in Bengaluru recently with a packed roster of speakers, panellists and authors. As the year comes to a close, the expert insights will be useful for entrepreneurs and corporates looking to ride India’s mobile boom.

YourStory’s annual MobileSparks conference has become India’s premier event for mobile startups and business innovators. The sixth edition of Mobile Sparks, themed The New Billion, focused on the next wave of mobile adoption in India, particularly rural and vernacular markets, as well as segments beyond the B2C sector.

Topics covered ranged from fintech and m-commerce to design and AI. The speaker lineup included experts from Qualcomm, MoneyTap, NowFloats, WeWork, Oracle, BigBasket, ShareChat, MakeMyTrip, InMobi, Uber, Ola Cabs, LinkedIn, Haptik and more.

Here are 25 quotes and insights drawn from YourStory’s articles and tweetfeed on MobileSparks (see also our pick of quotes from the earlier editions of the conference: 2016, 2014, 2013). We thank all speakers, sponsors and attendees for their engagement, and look forward to next year’s edition of MobileSparks already!

Now is a great time to be an entrepreneur. Great technologies have launched billion dollar companies. - Sanket Atal, Oracle

It is the execution that is hard, and that is more important than the idea. – Jason Wang, ShareIt

You need to win on “price perception” and not just on price. - Pramod Jajoo, BigBasket

No matter how much social media progresses, as humans, there is always a need for a physical interaction to really network and connect. - Karan Virwani, WeWork

Governments are competing with each other to help the startup ecosystem. – J.A. Chowdary, IT Advisor, Govt of Andhra Pradesh

Content, data, and accessibility are the drivers for growth in smartphones. - Swapna Gupta, Qualcomm Ventures

Aadhaar is part of the solution for multiple checks during transactions, but not the full solution; things like UPI are helping, but not fully. – Bala Parthasarathy, MoneyTapApp

If an AI chat helps a child to learn better where a teacher fails, then how many of us would say no to it? - Avi Patchava, InMobi

We need to think of ways to simplify apps according to consumer behaviour without compromising on the main features. - Rajiv Thondanoor, Ola Cabs

Nobody wants an app which will be slow. As long as you solve issues which the audience have, that will work across any geography - Ajay Datta, LinkedIn India

The 3 Vs - voice, vernacular and video - will drive marketing in India. - Sree Sivanandan, NetworkOnomy Ventures

Product design for non-English speakers is very complex and may not give us high returns in the start - but this is where the new billion lies. - Harsha Kumar, LightSpeed India

Mobile is more than a connection for mountainous Northeast India, it is like a lifeline. – Karma Bhutia, iShippo

You can ride on any social platform to start off, but what matters are activation, socialising and retention. - Farid Ahsan, ShareChat

Once you realise that there is a product-market fit, then you have to immediately juice up the game. - Arpan Samuel Ramtek, NowFloats

If you chase the same set of people, that's a big risk. You have to go to new populations and new people to lend. - Rajiv Raj, Credit Vidya

We have some of the best user experience services in the world, but Indian banks are way behind in terms of user experience. – Lizzie Chapman, ZestMoney

Every enterprise has to be a social enterprise. – Madan Padaki, 1Bridge

Test for usability, slow connectivity, and frequent interruptions – don’t treat it like charity. - Arun Babu, Uber

Messaging is the most natural UI for the smartphone user. - Aakrit Vaish, Haptik

Lite apps work for users who want good performance, irrespective of geography. - Ajay Datta, LinkedIn India

LiteApps are not a separate investment, it’s just a question of market fit and user needs or experience. - Sandipan Chattopadhyay, Xelpmoc

The working of an app differs from how it works when your mobile has 90 percent battery to when it has 40 percent battery. - Vaishakh, App Achhi

Help people save money and they will come flocking to you. – Amit Somani, Prime Venture Partners

Don’t design for the next billion – design for the next one, around one. - Jay Dutta, MakeMyTrip

Being in India doesn't mean you have to be restricted to India alone. You are all equipped to conquer the world. – Mark Wachter, ‘Mobile Strategy’

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).