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)

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. [...]
GrubHub: Slimy or Satisfying?
Jon Snow
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 6:35 pm
GrubHub has scaled profitably and brought together restaurants, hungry people, and drivers, but can they sustain their business amidst rampant competition?
How Groupon failed Ali Wong, but Netflix saved her
GDC
Posted on March 22, 2020 at 5:51 pm
The comedian Ali Wong is an example of the damage Groupon can have as a platform to the business of start-up entertainment, but also shows the marketing prowess of Netflix in this respect.
Alphasights: Purveyors of Knowledge
Melekot
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 7:29 pm
 “No [person’s] knowledge here can go beyond his experience” – John Locke The maxim that knowledge is power is heard so often that its fundamental truth may be obscured with repetition. Nonetheless, knowledge is the indispensable currency that makes the [...]
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
Faire: Empowering the Shop Local Movement
HK
Posted on March 21, 2020 at 11:25 pm
Faire is an online marketplace connecting small independent retailers with artisans (makers) to bolster the Shop Local movement and build local economies. 
Despegar: from tech darling to struggling business
Miguel Dysenhaus
Posted on March 24, 2020 at 2:05 pm
What are the main competitive advantages Despegar has in its favor to fight competition in a market where differentiation seems to be hard.
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