inside out versus Outside in

inside out vs outside in: what is the better business strategy to adopt for an early-stage startup? Tune in to hear our thoughts.

Rajinder:

i hear this term a lot inside out versus outside in what's the difference and what's more relevant in a start-up context.

Avnish:

Yeah. So, let me define it very quickly. inside out is when a company or a founder takes

the resources that they have, whether it's people, whether it's their view of the strategy, whether largely it's a product and they package it for a customer.

An outside in view is a company looks at a customer and says, or a founder and says,

i have to fulfil X need and they generate the resources, or they realign the resources within

their company to meet that need.

Obviously, it sounds like the latter way is the right way, right? it's not always the case. Apple, Steve Jobs, he's the guy who is famous for saying the customer doesn't know what they want until i show it to them. So, Apple's iPod was not the first music player.

it was the best. Apple's iPhone was not the first smartphone, but it turned out to be the best. it revolutionized the industry.

But i have a very simple advice for founders, unless you are Steve Jobs, please be outside in. it takes a genius to do this. i think if i look at and obviously, Apple has done really well. But if you look at Microsoft when Satya came onboard or look at Amazon, customer takes

them everywhere.

in our portfolio, there's a company wherewe have done a videocast

called Country Delight, completely customer obsessed. So, if i was a founder again,

that's a much easier roadmap that is replicable and scalable for me.

Let me figure out, let me be outside in. Let me have the customers tell me what to do and then deliver that in the best way possible, because i'm not Steve Jobs.