Platform

Also called Platform Business

A product others build on or transact through, an operating system, an app store, an API, so its value grows as more developers, partners, or users join and extend it.

Why it matters

Becoming a platform can create enormous, defensible value through ecosystem lock-in, but it is hard: you must first be a great standalone product before others will build on you. Most platforms started as products.

For example

Shopify became a platform when thousands of developers started building apps and themes on it, making it far more valuable than a standalone store builder.

Go deeper

Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy Harvard Business Review · article Why platform businesses beat pipeline businesses, and how the strategy rules change when you connect others rather than make the product yourself. Open hbr.org →

Related terms

Also in Starting Up

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

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