Explore All Posts
May 2013
- 23: So you think you can go viral? Three reasons you may be kidding yourself!
- 8: Marketplace Metrics: The three success factors
- 2: Dissecting Amazon’s Platform Play
April 2013
- 24: Why Business Models Fail: Pipes vs. Platforms
- 13: Users or Customers?
- 2: Building Online Marketplaces: A checklist for Disruption
March 2013
- 27: The network effect playbook: Social products win with utility, not invites
- 13: How to become a billion dollar startup: AirBnB, YouTube and Platform Thinking
- 4: How disruptive platforms get mainstream adoption
February 2013
- 26: Reverse Network Effects: The Challenges of Scaling an Online Platform
- 9: The Three Building Blocks of Platforms
- 4: Platform Thinking: How to get startup ideas
January 2013
- 29: A Platform Thinking approach to building a business
- 19: Growth = Engagement: A product design principle you can’t ignore
- 12: Platform Thinking: A brief guide to leveraging networks for business
- 6: How to crack User Generated Content: A Presentation
- 2: A Platform Thinking Approach To Problem Solving
December 2012
- 23: Reverse network effects: Why scale may be the biggest threat facing today’s social networks
- 19: Does your startup have a wallet-acquisition strategy?
- 8: How to get users to contribute on a creativity platform
- 4: Startup Suicide: How successful startups kill themselves by competing on features
November 2012
- 28: Virality vs. Network Effects
- 24: How to build a two-sided marketplace with the Yelp model… and why Craigslist hates it!
- 17: Destination vs. Distribution: Why your product should be where your users are!
- 11: Infinite Virality: The magic of C2C customer management tools
- 7: The Network Effect Isn’t Good Enough!
- 3: The Three Trends Shaping Advertising-Based Monetization: User = Advertiser = User
October 2012
- 30: Vimeo vs. MegaUpload vs. YouTube: Contrasting Strategies Of Competing Platforms
- 25: How To Build A Great Product By Removing Barriers To Usage
- 21: False positives and the cycle of free user acquisition platforms
- 17: Incentives: How To Engineer User Growth and Virality
- 13: Naturally Viral: How To Design Your Platform For Self-Expression
- 8: Growth Hacks of Q&A Startups
- 4: The Three Forms Of Metrics That Drive Scale
September 2012
- 30: How Quora, StackOverflow And Yelp Create Sustainable User Contribution Systems With A Simple Hack
- 27: Why Facebook’s Advertising Is Getting It Wrong
- 21: Reverse Network Effects: Is Twitter Losing Its Mojo?
- 18: Micro-universe: How Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp And Etsy Exploited Pre-Existing Network Structures
- 15: One month on… A note to all Platformed readers
- 12: Permalinks: The Key To Building Platforms That Grow With Usage
- 9: Putting The Market Before The Product
- 4: The Intersection Of Freemium, Networks and Marketplaces
- 1: Why Promoted Posts Are Not The Social Network Revenue Model We Were All Waiting For
August 2012
- 30: Zynga’s Fall And Facebook’s Evolution As A Viral Marketing Platform
- 25: How Not To Go Viral: Social Spamming
- 22: Exclusivity: The Antisocial Way To Seed A Social Product
- 21: Conquer Your Micro-Universe: Choosing Your Harvard
- 21: Conquer Your Micro-Universe – Part 1
- 18: How Groupon Solved The Critical Mass Problem And Got A Thousand Clones
- 17: Paypal, Reddit and The Power Of Fakin’ It
- 16: Hacking Your Way To Critical Mass
- 14: Viral Growth: How Paypal, Youtube And StumbleUpon Gained Rapid Traction Through Piggybacking
- 13: The Appification of Social Networks – Instagram
- 12: Chicken and Egg problem: How To Seed Your Platform In Standalone Mode
- 11: How Apple Drank Its Own Kool-Aid And Created A Thriving Developer Ecosystem
- 10: Platform Seeding Strategies
- 10: How Online Dating Services Bring In The Ladies!
- 9: Why Payments Startups Fail: A Lesson In User Behavior
- 7: Chicken and Egg Problem: How To Use Your Producers To Seed The Platform
- 6: Chicken and Egg Problem: How To Make a Two-Sided Market One-Sided
July 2012
Business Models
- May 8, 2013: Marketplace Metrics: The three success factors
- May 2, 2013: Dissecting Amazon’s Platform Play
- April 24, 2013: Why Business Models Fail: Pipes vs. Platforms
- March 27, 2013: The network effect playbook: Social products win with utility, not invites
- March 13, 2013: How to become a billion dollar startup: AirBnB, YouTube and Platform Thinking
- March 4, 2013: How disruptive platforms get mainstream adoption
- February 26, 2013: Reverse Network Effects: The Challenges of Scaling an Online Platform
- February 9, 2013: The Three Building Blocks of Platforms
- February 4, 2013: Platform Thinking: How to get startup ideas
- January 29, 2013: A Platform Thinking approach to building a business
- January 12, 2013: Platform Thinking: A brief guide to leveraging networks for business
- January 2, 2013: A Platform Thinking Approach To Problem Solving
- December 23, 2012: Reverse network effects: Why scale may be the biggest threat facing today’s social networks
- December 4, 2012: Startup Suicide: How successful startups kill themselves by competing on features
- October 25, 2012: How To Build A Great Product By Removing Barriers To Usage
Competition
Data
- December 8, 2012: How to get users to contribute on a creativity platform
- November 7, 2012: The Network Effect Isn’t Good Enough!
- September 30, 2012: How Quora, StackOverflow And Yelp Create Sustainable User Contribution Systems With A Simple Hack
- September 21, 2012: Reverse Network Effects: Is Twitter Losing Its Mojo?
- September 1, 2012: Why Promoted Posts Are Not The Social Network Revenue Model We Were All Waiting For
Growth
- May 23, 2013: So you think you can go viral? Three reasons you may be kidding yourself!
- April 2, 2013: Building Online Marketplaces: A checklist for Disruption
- January 19, 2013: Growth = Engagement: A product design principle you can’t ignore
- January 6, 2013: How to crack User Generated Content: A Presentation
- November 24, 2012: How to build a two-sided marketplace with the Yelp model… and why Craigslist hates it!
- November 17, 2012: Destination vs. Distribution: Why your product should be where your users are!
- November 11, 2012: Infinite Virality: The magic of C2C customer management tools
- October 21, 2012: False positives and the cycle of free user acquisition platforms
- October 17, 2012: Incentives: How To Engineer User Growth and Virality
- October 13, 2012: Naturally Viral: How To Design Your Platform For Self-Expression
- October 8, 2012: Growth Hacks of Q&A Startups
- September 18, 2012: Micro-universe: How Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp And Etsy Exploited Pre-Existing Network Structures
- September 15, 2012: One month on… A note to all Platformed readers
- September 12, 2012: Permalinks: The Key To Building Platforms That Grow With Usage
- September 9, 2012: Putting The Market Before The Product
- September 4, 2012: The Intersection Of Freemium, Networks and Marketplaces
- August 30, 2012: Zynga’s Fall And Facebook’s Evolution As A Viral Marketing Platform
- August 25, 2012: How Not To Go Viral: Social Spamming
- August 22, 2012: Exclusivity: The Antisocial Way To Seed A Social Product
- August 21, 2012: Conquer Your Micro-Universe: Choosing Your Harvard
- August 21, 2012: Conquer Your Micro-Universe – Part 1
- August 18, 2012: How Groupon Solved The Critical Mass Problem And Got A Thousand Clones
- August 17, 2012: Paypal, Reddit and The Power Of Fakin’ It
- August 16, 2012: Hacking Your Way To Critical Mass
- August 14, 2012: Viral Growth: How Paypal, Youtube And StumbleUpon Gained Rapid Traction Through Piggybacking
- August 13, 2012: The Appification of Social Networks – Instagram
- August 12, 2012: Chicken and Egg problem: How To Seed Your Platform In Standalone Mode
- August 11, 2012: How Apple Drank Its Own Kool-Aid And Created A Thriving Developer Ecosystem
- August 10, 2012: Platform Seeding Strategies
- August 10, 2012: How Online Dating Services Bring In The Ladies!
- August 9, 2012: Why Payments Startups Fail: A Lesson In User Behavior
- August 7, 2012: Chicken and Egg Problem: How To Use Your Producers To Seed The Platform
- August 6, 2012: Chicken and Egg Problem: How To Make a Two-Sided Market One-Sided
- July 18, 2012: Hacking Growth and Engagement
Monetization
- December 19, 2012: Does your startup have a wallet-acquisition strategy?
- November 3, 2012: The Three Trends Shaping Advertising-Based Monetization: User = Advertiser = User
- September 27, 2012: Why Facebook’s Advertising Is Getting It Wrong
- July 11, 2012: Platform Monetization
Platform Thinking
- April 13, 2013: Users or Customers?
Platforms
- November 28, 2012: Virality vs. Network Effects
- October 4, 2012: The Three Forms Of Metrics That Drive Scale
- July 31, 2012: Fundamentals of Platform Design
- July 29, 2012: What is a Platform?
Platform junkie, Singapore-based Early stage internet guy, Currently advisor to multiple platform startups.
This blog is about taking ventures from an idea to a business... and mitigating execution risk.



