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Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous edition here). Share these 20 gems and insights from the week of January 16-22 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2022 on Entrepreneurship, Motivation, Investments, Women Changemakers, Social Entrepreneurs, Environmental Change, Pandemic Resilience, Digital Transformation, India Opportunities, Design, Art, Failure Lessons, and Storytelling.

If you want to get into the entrepreneurial journey, definitely work in a start up first, understand how it works. Reach out to the community, talk to the ecosystem, don’t feel alone. – Ganesh Balakrishnan, Flatheads

Entrepreneurs will choose their growth paths, regardless of the definitions people try to bracket them in. And we need more of them today, more than ever. – Debleena Majumdar, Kahaniyah

Getting connected to the right network via mentors, availing government schemes and market access is where the focus is needed [for women entrepreneurs]. – Tejashree Shah, iCreate

Several women entrepreneurs are unaware of government schemes, and those who are aware lack clarity on specific features of the schemes. – Deepthi Ravula, WE Hub

Ramping up data systems by factoring in gender is an urgently required intervention. In this context, it is important to go beyond gender binaries. – Sruthi Kutty and Sona Mitra, IWWAGE

Female representation continues to be under-addressed both in entrepreneurship as well as senior leadership roles. – Vani Kola, Kalaari Capital

If we look back five years ago, hardly anyone knew about electric vehicles. Now, nearly everyone is thinking about their next vehicle purchase being electric. – Swapna Gupta, Avaana Capital

Restaurant owners are more eager to know the negative reviews because that way they can leave no stone unturned in offering the best to their customers. – Neha Khandelwal, UpSale

Depending on the country context, different pathways could be adopted to transform our agri-food systems for improved food security and nutrition and assuring sustainability. – Maximo Torero Cullen, FAO

A game developer’s IP (intellectual property), which is driven by a story, should not be categorised only under skill or chance. – VK Samhith, BornMonkie

When you want to grow a profitable business, a good part of it will be D2C and one of the easiest ways to do that is to have different kinds of products. – Rebekah Sood, Atmosphere Kombucha

Taxing the super-rich is the strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy. We need to do this for innovation. For stronger public services and for happier and healthier societies. – Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam International

Ensure workers in the formal and informal sectors are paid basic minimum wages. The minimum wages should be at par with living wages which is essential for living a life with dignity. – Oxfam

A set of clear and supportive frameworks for gig and blue and grey-collar workers is imperative to help formalise this informal workforce as they play a vital role in the success of our economy. – Ajay Kumar Singh, Billion Careers

It would be great to have the gig economy workers under the Minimum Wages Act to provide them with their rightful compensation for their labour. – Tamanna Gupta, Umanshi Marketing

Corporates are needed because they have the global supply chain, they have the expertise, and they have the strategic mindset of where the future is going. For startups … let’s focus on building scalable solutions. – Jitendra Vijayvargiya, MeitY Startup Hub

As capital becomes expensive, companies need to prioritise their bets and invest in the highest impact projects only. – ShareChat

This [economic] downfall is only for a transient period; it will push startups to be more serious in their overall operations and set new thresholds. – Aditya Narayan Mishra, CIEL HR Services

The much talked about funding winter has actually normalised the valuation expectation by founders. This is giving us access to good businesses run by very good founders and available at reasonable valuations. – Ajay Modi, Piper Serica

If founders have to continue to attract a strong talent pool, taxation of ESOPs ends up being a big deterrent. – Mayank Kumar, upGrad

Similar to ESOPs for employees of the startup, the founders can also be provided incentive payments upon reaching certain performance milestones based on the business plan of the startup. – Aurelia Menezes and Abhilasha S G, King Stubb and Kasiva

The Japanese government has been trying to accelerate the innovation ecosystem so the budget around innovation has increased dramatically. – Yuma Saito, Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support

It is important for the government to understand how it can encourage more individuals to become entrepreneurs, which will result in sharing of wealth. – TV Mohandas Pai, Aarin Capital

As geopolitical developments and the probability of a global recession have made investors cautious, there is an urgent need to formulate enabling policies to boost investments in startups so that the sector can carry on with its growth momentum. – Archana Khosla Burman, Vertices Partners

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).