‘Never underestimate the power of creativity that people develop in scarcity’ – 40 quotes from Indian startup journeys

From creativity to confidence, 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 40 gems and insights from the week of February 26 – March 4 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle. It defines you. - Niklas Zennstrom, Skype

All entrepreneurs are constantly faced with the need to solve everything, the need to act, and constantly react. The trick lies in a far-reaching vision. - Jay Krishnan, T- Hub

Innovation drives competitive advantage. Startups are in the front seat. - David R Prasser, StartUs

Music streaming is the future of music consumption globally, and in India, we’re only 10 percent of the way towards building a business useful for 500 million Indians. - Prashan Agarwal, Gaana

India is the fourth best R&D centre in the world. We have 400 large R&D centres in India. We are also the second fastest growing startup ecosystem. - Priyank Kharge, Minister of IT, Karnataka

Hyderabad is not far away from becoming a good startup hub. - Mohandas Pai, Aarin Capital

Health-related logistics is a $200 million opportunity in India. - Sandeep Padoshi, Wow Express

Persons with disabilities are the largest invisible population in our country. - Divyanshu Ganatra, India's first blind solo paraglider

It takes almost all of you to break through the stereotypes and prove yourself. - Aswini Srinivasan, 80 Degrees East

Art is not just about beauty and appreciation. You have to work proactively with the community to preserve and help artists. - Gitanjali Maini, Gallery G

We have a whole generation of Indians who have forgotten Indian mythology. The west too hasn’t had a chance to explore the beauty of Indian mythology. - Vivek Ram, Vaanarsena Studios

Our students are great with theory but are neither equipped nor experienced when it comes to practical skills. They simply aren’t given enough to play with. - Prachi Jha, Life Labs Foundation

Students are not data banks. The main aim of education is to bring out a good human being. - Prakash Javadekar, Union Human Resource Development Minister

Take the initiative to learn how to read and then, read. Reading is important. It opens up your mind. - Baby Halder, ‘Aalo Andhari’

You have to disrupt yourself. - Avnish Sabharwal, Accenture

Do an experiment. It’s not going to ruin the company. It’s not going to break the bank. And then learn from it. - Andrew MacAfee, MIT

The real currency of our age isn’t money. It isn’t data, attention or time. It’s ideas. - Rod Judkins, Central Saint Martin's College of Art

Solar is still seen as a way to contribute to the environment rather than a sweet investment that can actually deliver returns in the range of 20-25 percent. - Gagan Virmani, MYSUN

The world needs new sources of reliable, affordable clean energy, but it has been dramatically underfunding the research that would produce these breakthroughs. – Bill Gates

The future of the world is through connected and clean technologies. The world has to go green. - Bertrand Piccard, World Alliance for Efficient Solutions

As companies scale and seek more capital, founders lose more control. In many of these cases, venture debt helps retain that control. - Vinod Murali, Alteria

It is curation and personalisation that will help customers build their preferences for a particular service. - Sahas Malhotra, Amazon Music India

Coworking is the answer to finding a cost-effective work space in some of the premium locations of the city. - Devendra Agarwal, InstaOffice

Don’t wish for retirement in your old age. Live life now and enjoy mini-retirements every year. - Pardeep Goyal, CashOverflow

The best mentors are your peers. They’re going through the same things, they have the time for you, and you’re all going to rise professionally together. - Randi Zuckerberg

Think for yourself. That is the most distinguishing characteristic of the great entrepreneurs. - Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz

Today, you'll only be relevant if you're knowledgeable. - Rajiv Mody, Sasken Technologies

It is important that you think of yourself as a brand first. - Mathew J Maniyamkott, Fitversity

Diversity initiatives at Indian corporations have yet to show significant impact on the ground. - Priyanka Aggarwal, BCG

I don't think the ceiling has been completely cracked, but it is not hanging by very much. - Melanne Verveer, Georgetown University

With capabilities and good performance, you can make the glass ceilings disappear. - Shefali Saxena, Louis Berger

Making a will is one of the simplest yet least followed procedures in our country, which leads to ugly fights between families and relatives. - Rohan Mahajan, LawRato.com

Fintech firms and incumbents coming together is what will drive the industry forward. - Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Zone Startups India

Payments without authentication is just accounting. Identification and authentication is a very important sector of the payments industry. - Amit Goel, MEDICI

The advancements in AI mean that SaaS vendors can now power their applications with invisible interfaces and make them easier, more natural to use. - Sheryl Kingstone, Research

A platform or product sits in the middle of problems on one side and innovation on the other side. - Sharad Sharma, iSPIRT Foundation

The future of healthcare lies in developing human-centred, tech-enabled solutions to maximise access, transparency and efficiency. - Aditi Hazra Ganju, Togetherforher

As companies increasingly rely on the public cloud as part of their critical infrastructure, it’s imperative that they have full visibility into the cost, reliability and security. - Vijay Rayapati, Minjar

Self-driving cars have the potential to save lives, reshape cities, and dramatically benefit the environment. - Sameep Tandon, Drive.ai

We need to invest in people with domain-specific skills, with engineering and data science merging. - Partha DeSarkar, Hinduja Global Solutions

Everyone is born with the ability to impact someone’s life. - K. Chandrasekhar, Forus Health

Feeding someone is the best social service that one can do. - Babu Rao, Café Niloufer

There is a need for individuals to not only contribute more, but also ensure that it is strategic enough to move the needle on key social development indicators. - Arpan Sheth, Bain & Company

Never underestimate the power of creativity that people develop in scarcity. - Augusto Pellarini, Deutsche Telekom

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).