Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)

by Salim Ismail

Leading platform expert Sangeet Paul Choudary identified the four steps needed to build a successful platform (as opposed to a successful product): Identify a pain point or use case for a consumer. Identify a core value unit or social object in any interaction between a producer and consumer. This could be anything. Pictures, jokes, advice, reviews, information about sharing rooms, tools and car-rides are examples of things that have led to successful platforms. Remember that many people will be both producers and consumers, and use this to your advantage. Design a way to facilitate that interaction. Then see if you can build it as a small prototype that you can curate yourself. If it works at that level, it will be worth taking to the next level and scaling. Determine how to build a network around your interaction. Find a way to turn your platform user into an ambassador. Before you know it, you’ll be on a roll.