Great distinction. Yes, everyone wants a platform, but there's more work to do.
As you distinguished aggregation vs production (un- and re-bundling), I thought about Joe Pine/Jim Gilmore's evolution of value (and production) from goods to services to experiences to personal transformations. The Spotify, AirBnB, and Kindle case studies deliver digitized/physical experiences enabled by digital meta-data. The Food Delivery Platform is a service (improved by digitization) with bonus unbundled elements of its value chain. Each has its competitive profile.
Perhaps your other essay on generative AI (I haven't delved into it yet) falls in the transformation zone since it fits into the futurist computer scientist's "tools for thought" vision of augmentation.
Sorry if I bothered you. There is a way to look at value creation from a supply side perspective, namely product and rebuilding and a demand side perspective. All I thought was to add to your thoughts from a marketing perspective.
Hi Sangeet, as with many of your posts this is quite timely and goes right to the key points. The challenge, and maybe the intent :-), is “now what if I want to bring this into my business”. Creating the strategy hypothesis using what is described here is going to be the easy part given these examples had to discover their way to this current position plus continue to drive over time to create power (and enduring value) relative to competitors. Which of course is why they are great examples here.
That’s a long way of saying reading this post alongside the theory of 7 Powers really helps one see ‘what needs to be true’ to succeed over time with a platform, and the types of real life investment needed.
Yes. I hope it’s a good distinction. Making distinctions (like your amazing frameworks) is a useful way to design. Otherwise we get caught in a bewildering world of platitudes. We spin on design, and then cannot forge commitments.
Good to push people to reflect on nuance but I read this article as: aggregation per se (which is by the way quite different if you look at marketplaces or - for example - developer ecosytem platforms a la hubspot) may bot be the unique value proposition you sell on a platform, but only "part" of a broader value proposition set. And if you understand JTBD, User Experience as a whole etc... you're going to find better control points.
And if you bundle aggregation with differentiation points .... you get stronger products.
Tidemark's theory of control points can also be seen resonating with this (at least for B2B/Vertical SaaS space).
PS: only thing I'm not sure I agree 100% is the Airbnb point. Reputation looks like a structural part of an aggregation strategy to me - thus I'd read that if the product is ... reputation, then Airbnb is mainly selling a ...platform in the product - but maybe I didn't capture the essence.
Thanks Sangeet, goals are specific needs. Goals are driving forces to do something while needs are something that I seek to fulfill or not. There has been extensive literature on needs and goals. A goal as defined in marketing literature is definitely: finding a book by an unknown author.
Wow. This is a great piece! Makes me think of this equation in Agoda's (or booking) context. I am not sure if there one 'product'. Needs a few cycles of thinking.
Very thought provoking article. Curious what you think of competition for platform products. For eg. How can one music streaming service compete against Spotify if the product in their platform and the point of rebundling is very similar?
Hi Sangeet.
Great distinction. Yes, everyone wants a platform, but there's more work to do.
As you distinguished aggregation vs production (un- and re-bundling), I thought about Joe Pine/Jim Gilmore's evolution of value (and production) from goods to services to experiences to personal transformations. The Spotify, AirBnB, and Kindle case studies deliver digitized/physical experiences enabled by digital meta-data. The Food Delivery Platform is a service (improved by digitization) with bonus unbundled elements of its value chain. Each has its competitive profile.
Perhaps your other essay on generative AI (I haven't delved into it yet) falls in the transformation zone since it fits into the futurist computer scientist's "tools for thought" vision of augmentation.
Love your thoughts! Rob
Sorry if I bothered you. There is a way to look at value creation from a supply side perspective, namely product and rebuilding and a demand side perspective. All I thought was to add to your thoughts from a marketing perspective.
Great read. Thank you for all the examples which do as you say, really help bring the ideas to life.
Very interesting. And what you write is completely confirmed by the fact that Amazon has bought the Good Reads platform (a review production center).
Very unique thinking 👏
Hi Sangeet, as with many of your posts this is quite timely and goes right to the key points. The challenge, and maybe the intent :-), is “now what if I want to bring this into my business”. Creating the strategy hypothesis using what is described here is going to be the easy part given these examples had to discover their way to this current position plus continue to drive over time to create power (and enduring value) relative to competitors. Which of course is why they are great examples here.
That’s a long way of saying reading this post alongside the theory of 7 Powers really helps one see ‘what needs to be true’ to succeed over time with a platform, and the types of real life investment needed.
Yes. I hope it’s a good distinction. Making distinctions (like your amazing frameworks) is a useful way to design. Otherwise we get caught in a bewildering world of platitudes. We spin on design, and then cannot forge commitments.
Good to push people to reflect on nuance but I read this article as: aggregation per se (which is by the way quite different if you look at marketplaces or - for example - developer ecosytem platforms a la hubspot) may bot be the unique value proposition you sell on a platform, but only "part" of a broader value proposition set. And if you understand JTBD, User Experience as a whole etc... you're going to find better control points.
And if you bundle aggregation with differentiation points .... you get stronger products.
Years ago I wrote about the three value propositions that exist in platform-ecosystems once and i think this connects fairly well with this piece > https://boundaryless.io/blog/value-propositions-in-business-ecosystems-products-marketplaces-extensions/
Tidemark's theory of control points can also be seen resonating with this (at least for B2B/Vertical SaaS space).
PS: only thing I'm not sure I agree 100% is the Airbnb point. Reputation looks like a structural part of an aggregation strategy to me - thus I'd read that if the product is ... reputation, then Airbnb is mainly selling a ...platform in the product - but maybe I didn't capture the essence.
Thanks Sangeet, goals are specific needs. Goals are driving forces to do something while needs are something that I seek to fulfill or not. There has been extensive literature on needs and goals. A goal as defined in marketing literature is definitely: finding a book by an unknown author.
Good thinking. And thank you for sharing
Wow. This is a great piece! Makes me think of this equation in Agoda's (or booking) context. I am not sure if there one 'product'. Needs a few cycles of thinking.
Very thought provoking article. Curious what you think of competition for platform products. For eg. How can one music streaming service compete against Spotify if the product in their platform and the point of rebundling is very similar?
In a platform that sells Made in Italy gastronomic excellence (oil, pasta, vinegar, chocolate, honey ...) what do you think is the ''product”?
Can the playlist be a box of different products?
Thank you, Sangeet. This means the product is really the need that a platform solves in the life of consumers. We call this a need state.