Inspirations from TiECon Delhi 2009

It isn't often that you get a chance to rub shoulders with industry leaders and successful entrepreneurs. TiECon gives you a chance to connect and interact with founders of successful companies, venture capitalists and budding entrepreneurs. It was great to be in presence of people with amazing clarity of thought and expression.

As I was contemplating what is the best way to structure this blog, I remembered attending some of the panel discussions where certain quotes and thoughts just resonated with my mind. It's like you have a gut feel of certain things but when they are put in perfect, concise words it becomes easy to put it into action. So the best way to express what I saw and learnt is in the form of quotes that I gathered personally or in discussions.

• "Entrepreneurship is a difficult word to define, an entrepreneur has a difficult path to choose and a difficult path to tread. Many succeed and many fail. An entrepreneur who trips and falls down once; if he is a true entrepreneur will pick himself up and walk the same path or a different path with greater determination. An entrepreneur chases a dream, pursues an idea, and seeks a goal. So I think there is much to be said about entrepreneurship and any organization which promotes entrepreneurship rather than simple businesses." Mr. P. Chidambaram, Home Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

• "Good entrepreneurs react differently to tough times" Deep Kalra, Founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip.com

• "Thinking how soon I can 'breakeven' is a big fallacy. We need to think how will we scale up" Achal Ghai, Managing Director, Avigo Capital

• "When the brand is in experimental stage, even spam works, especially in India" Manish Vij, Co-Founder and Business Head, Quasar Media

• "80-90% of requests for venture capital get rejected due to lack of a marketing plan" Achal Ghai, Managing Director, Avigo Capital

• "Only when you have done enough 'pilots' and have customers who can be brand ambassadors should you think of doing advertising" Manish Vij, Co-Founder and Business Head, Quasar Media

• "For your core team you need like minded people and people who can work with equity" Dhruv Shringi, CEO & Co Founder, Yatra.com

• "A part of your skill as an entrepreneur is to be a good salesman" Yashish Dahiya, Co Founder & CEO, Policy Bazaar.com

• "Its better to be No.1 in a niche market than No.20 in a large market"

• "You must be able to state your core value proposition in a single sentence"

• "Be non-conforming"

• "Leadership is about action not position"