David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee — Some of the Most Successful Platforms Are Ones You’ve Never Heard Of

When most of us think of multisided platforms, the ones that come to mind are those, like Apple and Facebook, that make heaps of money. Or unicorns like Uber that, if cap tables mean anything, someday will. Of course, anyone who really knows the history of platforms may recall the many that aspired to make gobs of money but never did and quickly died (think of the many B2B exchanges that never made it to the other side of dot-com bust). And don’t forget your brother-in-law’s great platform idea, which will make you both rich if only you would invest your life savings in his startup.

What’s amazing, though, is that there are many platforms that have created massive value, but have never made a profit, and don’t even strive to make money — on purpose.

Non-profits.

Harvard Business Review — HBR Blog Network
Some of the Most Successful Platforms Are Ones You’ve Never Heard Of

David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee