Surprise! Designing A Platform Business Is Not Easy

Image:  Designing a platform business to meet in the middle is harder than it looks. Getty

The design, launch, and scale of a platform business can literally be four times harder than launching a traditional business.

Multi-sided platform businesses like Uber and Airbnb are dominating the transportation and lodging industries, and rapidly expanding into new markets like food delivery and tour guiding. Their success has spawned millions of entrepreneurs’ dreams, and thousands of platform start-ups.

Platforms appear easy enough to start. Their primary role is to connect willing buyers to willing sellers, so the platform itself does not need to own many hard assets. Airbnb does not own a single rental property. Uber does not own a single car. Launching these businesses may require some capital for staff, technology, and marketing, but no […]

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