I first got excited about the potential of platform businesses by listening to the product designer at Skyscanner at a travel expo in London. He was taking questions about what to include in the MVP, when to add new features and how to manage global expansion. Skyscanner made a great case study for the mobile commerce book I was writing back then, and I’ve been a Skyscanner super-user ever since.
Skyscanner is a role model platform business model:
solve a customer pain point with an excellent user experience
generate real-time data insights to maximise lifetime value
create enterprise value
They got it right. By 2012, Skyscanner had set up in Beijing, forged a partnership with Baidu to scale in China. Today the site is available in over 30 languages, is used by 100 million the people each month and has been sold for $1.75bn.
Platform business ideas attract plenty of VC funding, yet much of this is wasted as the reality of building, scaling and selling is challenging.
To learn tips about what works, and what mistakes to avoid, we’re launching the Platform Strategy Accelerator - our 6 weeks online course - where we explore the principles and case studies. It’s a safe place to develop your platform business plan.
We’ve lined up a top team of global platform experts - including Skyscanner - to share their knowledge and tips, and take your questions:
Shaz Ansari, Professor of Strategy & Innovation, Cambridge Judge Business School will explore 'Spotting your Platform Niche' (10 June).
Amit Rathore, platform architect at HSBC, serial entrepreneur and founder of Football Fan App shares his experiences on 'Platform Design & Build' (17 June).
Ron Sachs, Commercial Principal at Skyscanner looks at success factors during 'Launch, Learn and Scale' phases of platform growth (24 June)
We have a few remaining places for the June event. For more info, and to register your questions for our experts, please click here
book your place, please click here