I’ve written a book on platform business strategy for product leaders, based off the workshops I ran in 2020 at Productized and JAM. It came out in March 2022 — available on Amazon in Kindle eBook and paperback versions. You can get an idea on what the book is about from this blog post.
Introduction
Platform businesses are among the most successful companies of the past few years (think Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, or Amazon). You might also have heard of this model as a “multi-sided platform” or “marketplace”. This isn’t a new business model, but as Internet connections became increasingly present in our lives (first in every home, then in every pocket), the possibilities for global-scale platform businesses exploded.
Not all businesses that set out to build a platform business are set out to succeed in it, though.
This book is for founders, product managers and product leaders in platform businesses. It is particularly useful if:
1. you are in your first foray into platforms;
2. your company lacks the aforementioned awareness of the specifics of a platform business and of building a product to help that business succeed.
While bringing new ways of looking into product strategy for platform businesses, it does not aim to be your ultimate, exhaustive reference. Rather than replacing or competing with solid references on either platform businesses and product management, this book “stands on the shoulders” of those “giants” to complement them. In this book, I use clear language and familiar examples to convey the fundamental concepts of platform businesses. You’ll be able to apply these concepts as you go to either a well-known platform company or your own real/imaginary one. I also provide you with a novel tool to put your work together and design your strategic pillars — the Platform Business Strategy Canvas. When you finish the book, you’ll have crafted an essential vision and product strategy for your platform business and will be better equipped to “sell” platform thinking to your stakeholders.
Table of contents
- Introduction
- 1 — Platform Businesses 101
- 2 — Is There an Unmet Need? The Core Job
- 3 — Network effects
- 4 — Chicken and Egg
- 5 — Platform as a Product
- 6 — Product Strategy: enter the Platform Business Strategy Canvas
- Conclusion
- Reading List
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Endnotes
Get the Platform Business Strategy Canvas
The book mirrors the structure of the workshops I have given in 2020 (at Productized and at JAM). You’ll certainly get the most out of it if you attend such a workshop. Stay tuned for more editions of it and feel free to reach out to discuss holding one for your team.
