How InMobi Unconventionally Went West And Made It Big

InMobi has had quite a unique journey over the last seven years. We have done the unthinkable by starting an Internet business outside the US and making it successful. We grew in the complete opposite direction of most technology companies by growing from East to West. From our humble beginnings in India, in a one-room apartment with only a mattress and the idea to grow an Internet business in a place where internet businesses did not even exist - especially an Internet advertising business before the iPhone was even invented!

InMobi continued this entrepreneurial spirit by deciding to further grow the business in markets where there wasn’t an infrastructure to do so. For instance, in China it was difficult for any non-Chinese companies to succeed and InMobi managed to be very successful in this market. We scaled the business in other markets within a span of just three years globally.

Our geographic expansion plan compelled us to be agile and flexible. Once we had tasted initial success, we laid out a plan to simultaneously expand in Southeast Asia, Australia Europe, Middle East and Japan. Each of these markets had its own unique characteristics that were different from one another. Western Europe was developed, and so was Japan, but the latter is a contained market with little in common with the European market. The emerging markets, on the other hand, were evolving and needed a totally different approach.

InMobi committed itself to succeed in the North American market with higher investment in 2013. Over the past two odd years, several smart and highly motivated people have joined us and shaped our journey. We now have offices in three major US cities (San Francisco, New York City and Chicago). Our US headquarters in San Francisco is our second largest office after India in the world.

Our first profoundly successful year in North America materialized in 2014. We are unstoppable and will not rest until we have redefined advertising in a mobile-first world. Stay tuned for some exciting updates to come from InMobi North America in 2015.