Scaling from Within: Tushar Amin on Building a $2B Business Inside IBM

Strategy at Scale

What does it take to build a $2 billion business—not from scratch, but from inside a legacy corporate giant?

Tushar Amin has the answer.

A seasoned strategy executive, Tushar led a transformative initiative within one of IBM’s most traditional business units—a flat-growth, high-margin division many saw as a cash cow. Where others saw constraints, he saw opportunity. By reframing IBM’s aging global infrastructure as a strategic asset, he helped create a fast-growing, globally competitive services business—without dismantling what already worked.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Tushar uncovered a horizon-two growth opportunity hidden within a horizon-one business.
• Why identifying profit pools in the ecosystem is more impactful than conventional market sizing.
• The alignment framework he used to connect go-to-market, offerings, and delivery—and scale fast.
• How to gain organizational buy-in for long-term bets, even when they challenge short-term margins.
• Why a credible value proposition rooted in real differentiation is the key to pricing power.

This is more than an intrapreneurial success story—it’s a masterclass in seeing strategic opportunity where others don’t.

Let’s dive in with Tushar Ami

Thanks for listening! This episode is brought to you by Kaihan Krippendorff of Outthinker Networks and Verne Harnish of Scaling Up.