Platform Business Challenges

March 24, 2020

Read The Full Prompt

Digital technologies give rise to a variety of platforms. For this assignment, please pick ONE of the following two options:

1) Identify a platform firm, describe how it creates and capture value, and evaluate its scalability and sustainability.  To make it interesting, please stay away from well-known platforms such as those owned by Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft.

2) Identify a firm that tried to work with a platform (e.g., X Fire or Australian banks) or tried to become a platform (e.g., Qihoo). Describe the opportunities and challenges in its journey.

Materials

“Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don’t” (Links to an external site.) HBR January-February 2019
“Products to Platforms: Making the Leap” (Links to an external site.) HBR April 2016

Assignment

Create an approximately 750-word post to make your contribution on digit.hbs.org  by 6 pm on March 24.

Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per assignment. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos, and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Selected posts will be discussed in class.

Submitted (79)

NVIDIA’s Winning Platform Strategy with CUDA
panda
Posted on March 22, 2020 at 7:28 pm
NVIDIA's platform approach with CUDA and GPUs is an enviable moat in the industry! Find out why?
A “Plaid”form worth paying (a lot) for
C. Xu
Posted on March 23, 2020 at 2:21 pm
One of the latest landmark acquisitions in the start-up space is the $5.3bn acquisition of Plaid by Visa earlier this year. This post examines how Plaid evolved to become the poster child fintech platform of the last decade.
Cookpad: spreading the joy of cooking worldwide
K Fukagawa
Last modified on March 23, 2020 at 3:53 pm
With its simple mission of 'Making every day cooking fun!', Cookpad has become the biggest recipe-sharing platform in Japan with a huge fan base and 3 million recipes. What is their secret to success?
StockX: The Stock Market for Things
SR2020
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 5:04 pm
StockX is an e-commerce platform on the rise due to it's unique stock market approach to resale. Strong network effects, superior platform design, and "sticky" features have and will continue to help StockX grow in the future.
GOAT – The “Greatest of All Time” Marketplace for Sneakerheads
Leah H
Posted on March 21, 2020 at 5:41 pm
“This decade brought new meaning to both the sneaker industry and the secondary market. Ten years ago, sneakers were seen as a subculture, a small group of enthusiasts and collectors, but has since become a global phenomenon,” said Eddy Lu, CEO [...]
Go-Fund Me: Free fundraising for the people and causes you care about
Robert Alexander
Posted on March 18, 2020 at 12:21 pm
When it comes to leveraging crowdsourcing and the power of community building no one does it better than Go-Fund Me, a free social fundraising company out of California. With a unique value proposition and transparent business model, the mission at [...]
Peloton – How a $2,000 bike is crushing $300 alternatives and dominating the at-home fitness market
Russell
Last modified on March 24, 2020 at 5:56 pm
Peloton is dominating the market despite an offering that is $2,000 than similar competitors. How?
Meet Glovo: The App That Will Deliver Anything to Your Door
Loti de Esteban
Posted on March 14, 2020 at 5:18 pm
Glovo is an on-demand service platform that purchases, picks-up and delivers products ordered through its mobile app. It allows you to order anything available locally and promises to deliver it to you “within minutes.”
Upwork— the future of remote work online
Viria Vichit-Vadakan
Last modified on March 24, 2020 at 6:11 pm
Upwork— the future of remote work online Upwork founded in 2014 is an online marketplace that connects clients, namely businesses and professionals, to skilled freelancers.  The platform currently has 5 million businesses and over 10 million freelancers on the platform. [...]
Haven – A safe and steady logistics platform
Chris H
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 5:06 pm
In 2017 Haven adopted a strategy of becoming a logistics solutions platform - a safe and sustainable option. But was forgoing the sex and violence of direct competition to become a niche platform a sustainable move?
Caviar – Food delivery’s race to your doorstep
r cai
Posted on March 23, 2020 at 10:18 pm
Caviar entered the competitive food delivery space in 2012 positioning itself as the “fancy food” delivery startup. At that time, the market was dominated by two large players, Seamless and Grubhub, with many new players looking to enter. Caviar’s platform [...]
Dingdong– 29 mins vegetable delivery to door
Haoran
Last modified on March 21, 2020 at 5:56 am
Dingdong Maicai (vegetable delivery) is a fresh vegetable e-commerce platform that provides 29 mins door to door delivery in major cities in China.
Practo – India’s home for health
trishim11
Last modified on March 24, 2020 at 5:43 pm
A technology platform to help billions lead healthier lives
Udaan- India’s Amazon or Alibaba?
Sneha Biswas
Last modified on March 23, 2020 at 11:46 pm
Udaan is a B2B marketplace in India connecting small and medium sized retailers to wholesalers for a range of products from lifestyle, home, electronics to fruits and vegetables.
Too Good To Go: A Win-Win-Win Situation
Partha Ray
Last modified on March 22, 2020 at 2:08 pm
Too Good To Go is the world’s leading platform for reducing food wastage. The free smartphone app connects local restaurants, hotels and retail businesses that have unsold, surplus food with local customers.
BloomNation: a budding platform for florists
Kendra T
Last modified on March 23, 2020 at 4:08 pm
BloomNation connects customers purchasing flowers with local florists that provide unique and artistic arrangements
Before Facebook there was… Friendster? Yes, that’s right!
Ulunma
Posted on March 21, 2020 at 8:48 pm
  Once upon a time, Friendster was the hottest thing in social networking. However, its inability to keep up with demand from users and the rise of Facebook led to its ultimate demise. 2002 marked the era of social networking [...]
Palantir Technologies: Intelligence as a Service
Nicholas Dimitruk
Last modified on March 23, 2020 at 12:01 am
Intelligence Agencies are well versed in the adage that "Knowledge is Power". One company can offer this, but in doing so, they must be the single guardian of that power.
Wikipedia – Free Knowledge and a 19-Year-Old Online Platform
Tommy Tom
Posted on March 23, 2020 at 9:33 pm
Wikipedia is one of the original online platforms with many structural challenges, yet they are making it work
How Swiggy devoured competition in India
Krish Sreedevi
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 5:45 pm
How Swiggy managed to hold its own against giants like UberEats and Zomato
Hello Alfred: automating the on-demand economy
RLT
Last modified on March 23, 2020 at 3:02 pm
In a world crowded with on-demand apps and services, Hello Alfred created an aggregated service platform for recurring and widely demanded services to simplify the life of their customers. The platform is assisted by company employed “Alfreds” who coordinate the [...]
Stitcher Podcasts, Midroll Media, and the Art of Battling Giants
hbs51369394
Posted on March 22, 2020 at 4:10 pm
Second largest podcasting app Stitcher aims to build a business model that can survive against Apple Podcasts while integrating with advertising network Midroll Media.
BlaBlaCar: A carpooling platform competing with its drivers?
Paul-Emile Landrin
Posted on March 23, 2020 at 10:07 am
BlaBlaCar is a carpooling app for long distance trip and a top player in France. The company has bought Ouibus, a French bus company, and is now offering bus trips on its platform which compete directly with carpooling trips.
iFood delivers great results in Brazil going beyond connecting restaurants with customers.
Reinaldo Fioravanti
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 12:01 pm
From delivering food to improving restaurant management and diving into the food supply chain, the journey of iFood seems to be promising.
1 2 3 4