Book Image

Effective Platform Product Management

By : Tabassum Memon
Book Image

Effective Platform Product Management

By: Tabassum Memon

Overview of this book

Scaling a platform is a lot different than scaling a product. This is why product managers developing or transitioning to a platform model are often facing completely new challenges – both technical and strategic. But if you want to build the next Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, or a completely new type of platform, then you need to adopt a platform-first approach to change how you invent, develop, and market solutions. This is where Effective Product Platform Management comes in. This book addresses product management as a critical pillar of platform development. It'll help you understand the difference between traditional and modern product management for platforms and even decide whether the platform business model is the way to go for you. As you progress, you’ll be able to build the right platform strategy, define the MVP, and focus on ongoing backlog prioritization for successful platforms. This book will also walk you through the practical steps and guidelines that can ease your organization’s transition from linear products to platforms. By the end of this platform product management book, you’ll have learned the essential aspects of product management for building successful and scalable platforms. You’ll also have a clear understanding of the next steps you need to take to perfect and execute your new platform strategy – and take on the world.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Section 1: Building the Right Strategy for the Platform Business Model
6
Section 2: Building the Platform
10
Section 3: Measuring the Performance of the Platform

Defining the business strategy

Defining the platform's business strategy is different from that of linear businesses because of the multi-sided nature of platforms. The business strategy depends on the type of platform, the current availability of producers and consumers, and potential growth in their numbers. The following are the types of business strategies that will be applicable in different scenarios:

  • Draw new consumers: When there is an existing network of producers, but consumers are either non-existent or fulfill their requirements by other means, then this strategy of drawing new consumers is the most appropriate one. For example, before Yelp, people were trying to get reviews of restaurants by several different means, such as their social circle or expert advice.

Some people did not even realize they needed to find out about the restaurant before they dined there. But Yelp generated that demand and created a consumer base that wanted to read the reviews...