India's Early Unicorn Company Talks About Maintaining Startup Culture During Tough Times Amit Gupta, co-founder at Softbank-backed InMobi, spoke to Entrepreneur India about surviving during tough times !
By Sneha Banerjee •
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Every big or mid-sized startup goes through its own trials and tribulations! From ecosystem worries to internal issues, but it takes immense entrepreneurial talent to overcome these challenges and sustain the company culture.
Backed by investors like Softbank Capital, InMobi co-founder Amit Gupta, spoke to Entrepreneur Media at World Startup Expo regarding what goes into sustaining company culture.
When asked as to how he keeps calm during turbulent times, Amit said that it's not easy. "The fact that all of us appreciate and understand the value of it, we put extra emphasis on people. I am not saying it was always hunky dory, there was a lot of startup funding happening and a lot of people were getting offers. We were demonstrating that when we say people, we really mean it and people were able to see through that," he said.
InMobi has seen several exits this year which raised questions about its future. However, Amit said that thankfully he "never lost good people.'
Amit, who is also the president at the digital advertising firm, said that his company prioritizes on company culture during tough times.
At the conference, Amit mentioned that InMobi always made sure to hire local people as country heads at the company's global offices.
Should B2B companies focus solely on international geographies in its early days?
B2B startups from India have always seen more value from international customers versus local ones. Talking about this, Amit said that he had a different point of view on this! "There is an economic value of doing some business outside versus India. I agree with the fact that India is a small market from the consumer perspective. When you are working in a country with customers in that country, you have a better advantage about their problems better,"
"So if I am starting a company for consumers or customers in the US, I feel their problem closely. Whereas if I am here, my understanding and precision of the problem will be better!" he adds.
Amit believes that with VC funding coming in, the era of B2B is not over but rather becoming more interesting today! Amit said that InMobi will continue to bet on big markets like China, US, India and Indonesia in 2017.
