In today’s episode, we have Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker from HubSpot, who take us through their latest report on the State of Platforms in 2024. 

HubSpot released this great report earlier this year that profoundly covers how firms now adopt platform strategies to thrive in a digital economy ranging from app ecosystems to services marketplaces. Having spearheaded this, Kelly and Scott shared some insider information with us. 

During the conversation, they highlight the evolution of platforms, from mere technical infrastructures to complex ecosystems, and then further delve into how understanding the intricacies of platform models is crucial for all businesses looking to leverage the interconnected nature of modern markets.

Some of our ardent followers will know that this is the 2nd time we have Scott, Vice President of Platform Ecosystem, at HubSpot. Kelly, instead, works as a Platform Ecosystem Advocate, at the same company. 

We are thrilled that they wanted to share the key learnings from co-authoring the “State of Platforms 2024” report with a keen focus on the B2B SaaS industry.

In the conversation we explored the implications of evolving platforms for business strategy and operations, emphasizing the necessity for companies to continuously adapt and leverage these opportunities effectively, regardless of the role and business model. 
Our guests further touch upon how companies need to modulate around proliferation and nichification, integrations across sectors, and even look into these retributions' ethical and social aspects from a community-building perspective. 

This episode is a crucial one and a much-needed dialogue to take platform ecosystems forward, so join in. 

Key Highlights

👉 Deep Dive into B2B SaaS Platforms by analyzing the top 50 SaaS companies’ adoption of platform business models.
👉 Integration as a critical strategy for enhancing user experience and the platform's value proposition.
👉Industries that have fallen short in their platform game, and where their future is headed.
👉The challenges with outsourcing integration, and why the quality of integration makes or breaks your product’s market fit.
👉The platform industry as a continuously evolving ecosystem, and its implications on business.
👉How companies need to adapt their structure to support platform models.
👉Analysis of the broader implications of platform strategies on society and ethical considerations in platform management.
👉The potential of using ecosystems as a distribution strategy, and why even non-tech companies should consider integrating digital services into their offerings.

Topics /chapters

(00:00) The State of Platforms in 2024 with Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker - Intro
(00:58) Introducing Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker
(01:58) State of Platforms Report 2024
(10:09) Patterns of Platforms in 2024
(13:19) Outdated Metrics and Practices of Platforms
(16:10) Who should be thinking about Platforms today?
(20:24) Being a part of ecosystems as a distribution strategy
(23:57) Organization Structures Designed for Platforms
(27:31) Who should understand platforms in your organization?
(33:15) Proliferation and Nichification
(38:43) What is the key to unlock the future?
(45:17) Transformation in the Services Ecosystems
(51:29) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/kelly-scott/

Episode recorded on August 7, 2023

Get in touch with Boundaryless:

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_
Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music
Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music

The Boundaryless Conversation Podcast: Season 5

#99 - The State of Platforms in 2024 with Kelly Sarabyn and Scott Brinker

Yolanda Martin Olivas, Global VP of Design, ClearScore, joins us on this episode to talk about the challenges and strategies involved in building platform capabilities within organizations. 

From her experience of building platforms at companies like Farfetch, Hearst, Canonical, Kaluza, and ClearScore etc., she takes us through the realities (sometimes difficult) of what it’s like to enable platform transformation and growth.

She argues for organizations to rethink the “growing through acquisition” approach while reiterating the need to focus on a strong infrastructure layer.

As a passionate learner, practitioner, and enabler of platform design; Yolanda is one to take tune into. 

Being one of the earliest learners of the Platform Design Toolkit, Yolanda has been a staunch practitioner of the platform business model and has played a pivotal role in enabling it in several organizations. 

In this episode, we talk about organizational motivations to shift towards platform design models, primarily driven by the need for economies of scale and new growth opportunities, and why focusing on your “why” is important. 

From her experience as a Design Director, she further shares practical advice on fostering a broader ecosystem perspective among design teams. She underscores the need for strong leadership commitment to enable this. 

In this conversation we get insights into what made organizations “make it or break it”, so tune in, and get ahead of the curve. 

Key Highlights

👉 Building platform capabilities is complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. Organizations, need to make a special commitment to platform design and implement exclusive strategies targeted toward this, not simply extending their existing practices.
👉 Successful platform transitions often start with integrating internal operations before enabling it to external partners.
👉 Design leaders play a crucial role in guiding organizations through platform transitions by fostering a broader, ecosystem-wide perspective; which does not look at design problems in a silo, but as a cog in a larger ecosystem.
👉 The lack of a mature platform infrastructure can make growth efforts expensive and inefficient. 
👉 There is a high risk in prematurely diverting investment from platform infrastructure to other growth avenues, such as acquiring and creating brands.
👉 Effective platform transitions require targeted education and training for different parts of the organization, tailored to their involvement in the platform’s development stages.

Topics /chapters

(00:00) Navigating Platform Transitions with Yolanda Martin - Intro
(00:58)    Introducing Yolanda Martin
(02:50)	Building platform capabilities inside organizations?
(11:05)	Adapting to platformization changes 
(15:55)	Design Leadership for Platformization
(20:53) Stories of Transition
(27:23)	What did not work for Farfetch platform?
(32:35)	Building or Buying the Ecosystem?
(37:05)	Looking beyond User-Centered-Design
(43:34)	What helps the organization re-arrange?
(48:19)	Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/yolanda-martin

Episode recorded on March 20, 2024

Get in touch with Boundaryless:

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_
Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music
Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music

#101 - Navigating Platform Transitions with Yolanda Martin

Martin Mocker reads MIT CISR's June 2024 research briefing, which he co-authored with Ina Sebastian. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2024_0601_SalesforcePlatformBusiness_MockerSebastian.

Abstract: Platform business models have become highly popular; they are used by half of the world’s ten largest companies by market capitalization. The challenge for established companies is that running a platform business is different from running a product business. A platform business requires building an ecosystem of various constituents with differing interests: customers, the company’s internal product teams, and partners. Based on an in-depth case study of Salesforce Platform, this briefing illustrates one approach to balancing the interests of these constituents.

Building a Platform Business Requires Balance—Lessons from Salesforce

A research center at the MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT CISR helps executives meet the challenge of leading dynamic, global, and information-intensive organizations.

Boundaryless helps global customers with Business Strategy and Organization Design for the age of Ecosystems.
We do it by creating openly accessible frameworks and by supporting a community of organizations, institutions, and individuals through workshops, training, and consulting services. 

In this space we host all our audio recordings, including the Boundaryless Conversations podcast, a show focused on exploring the future of large scale organising by leveraging on technology, network effects and shaping narratives. We explore how platforms can help us play with a world in turmoil, change, and transformation: a world that is at the same time more interconnected and interdependent than ever but also more conflictual and rivalrous. 

We used to be online at platformdesigntoolkit.com... now find us on our new website: www.boundaryless.io!

Email: hello@boundaryless.io

New tracks tagged #PlatformBusinessModel