Human serves Machine versus Machine serves Human business model

Oh, so you have an interesting idea for your startup and you want me to invest in your startup? So, is your startup a

• Human serves Machine model

or

• Machine serves Human model

Learn how to differentiate your startup model by knowing which part will consume your energy or reward you.

In Human serving Machine model, it will get expensive as you scale as you need to increase your workforce. In a nutshell, too many moving parts involving human muscles.

Example: Groupon, food/grocery delivery services.

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Image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/wWCGW9AQ-y0 by @outsighted

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In Machine serving Human model, it will get cheaper as you scale as you only need to increase the number of machines or retain the same number, but increase the capacity per machine. In a nutshell, mostly just pushing electrons.

Example: Google, Dropbox.

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Image credit: https://unsplash.com/search/vending?photo=CuETyq65OWo by imchenyf

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If you are a true technology startup, your business model should rely on the machine serving human, not the other way round.

Preview image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/sm3Ub_IJKQg by @whitfieldjordan