Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Muralidharan: Outsource experimental roles before hiring to avoid layoff morale costs

Anu Muralidharan · Unlock Profitability and Growth - The Key Strategies of Expensify's COO Anu Muralidharan · Oct 13, 2023 · at 18:39

This episode carries Anu Muralidharan's own address, with nobody on the show putting questions to them. It still counts as said, and it is kept out of every score on their page.

Expensify COO Anu Muralidharan explains how outsourcing should be used for organizational flexibility and low-risk experimentation.

0:00 / 0:21exact quote · 21.7s
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“If you're experimenting with ideas, if you're not quite sure about a strategy but you'd like to try it, so long as the role itself lends itself to outsourcing, consider outsourcing before you really commit and hiring a full-time team. Because once you hire a full-time team, there is a soft cost. You can't just let everybody go because your strategy isn't working.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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