Innovation Tactics

Develop innovation ideas you can be proud of

Platform business model: the most revolutionary innovation idea right now

The platform business model must be considered the most important and revolutionary business model of the last decade or two. Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Uber, Airbnb, Paypal and many other of the most successful startups are built on this business model.

The great misconception is that this is only an opportunity for high-flying IT companies. In reality anyone can come up with these ideas. Why should not an incumbent from the hospitality industry come up with the idea of TripAdvisor or Airbnb? Gain the knowledge you need to understand how this business model works and develop your own ideas.

Here are links to our most popular articles.

(1) real-life examples covered in-depth:

Understanding Uber

Fully Understand Airbnb

Business models compared: TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia

(2) the fundamentals first:

Complete Guide to the Revolutionary Platform Business Model

(3) or just drop your email address to the sidebar and get a full pack of valuable resources on this business model:


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The single biggest risks to Airbnb, Uber and your sharing platform idea

The biggest risks to Uber, Airbnb and sharing economy platform business models doesn’t come from technical or commercial dimensions but from their social impacts, yet these are being largely ignored.

The large for-profit sharing economy platforms, such as Uber and Airbnb, come with social risks and opportunities and I will give a balanced overview over both. The critics see them as leading to a “dystopia, with increasingly powerful platforms facing disempowered workers” [“that deliver a latte in a rainstorm to the more fortunate ones”]. Optimistic observers spot utopian possibilities of a crowd- and trust-based economic system and the emergence of a “networked society of micro‐entrepreneurs”

With a number of recent blows to both Uber and Airbnb in the US social and regulatory risks become crucial … understand what’s going on and how it may affect your ideas!

Can Uber, Airbnb and sharing platforms self-regulate?

The sharing economy is a fast-growing innovation opportunity. PricewaterhouseCoopers projects a 20-fold increase between 2016 and 2025 – reaching €570 billion ($674 billion). Its best know representatives are Uber and Airbnb. But there are many other wonderful examples and types of sharing economy platform business models.

It is common understanding that the role of the innovator is to introduce new methods, ideas, products/services or business models. But does it end there?

The answer is a resounding “no”. After having built one of the highest valued start-ups (by market capitalisation), Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick had to step down as top executive. The reason were not a lack of growth or bad financial results. It was due to the poor management of negative impacts of the platform. At the same time, Airbnb is awaiting dozens of regulatory decisions all over the world that can wipe off a considerable amount of their housing stock in the affected cities.

Innovators have to understand and manage the implications of their ideas to participants and non-participants before a negative public opinion forms which would  put pressure on regulators to introduce heavy-handed, innovation-stifling measures in place.

Today we will look how innovators can help manage the foot print of their companies, the public discourse and regulations in a positive way using innovative ideas.

The death of the (original) Sharing Economy and the birth of the amazing Sharing Economy v2.0

Sharing, gift cultures and reciprocity are as old as human civilisations and possibly as old as human species – even without a smartphone! But since we have the latter, things have started changing dramatically. We have not become much more generous all of a sudden. But the number of opportunities to share has dramatically increased – thanks to the work of clever innovators.

The sharing economy is an important trend following the invention of the world wide web.

Like web 1.0, the early sharing economy ideas have not unleashed the full potential of the idea. As was web 2.0, the sharing economy (call it 2.0) is an exciting rebirth of this socio-economic trend that plays an increasing role in people’s life and present so many innovation ideas.

Join me for a journey through the exiting examples of the sharing economy 2.0.

Strategy: Porter’s Five Forces explained (plus example Uber)

Michael Porter’s Five Forces are the most important strategy tool when it comes to understanding a company within its industry setting. Some think that in today’s fast-paced times strategy is irrlevant. Applying this tool in-depth on Uber I am showing that is has not lost any of its fascination or relevance.
The opposite is true!
Innovators who know this tool will have a significant edge to others trying to come up with similar ideas. They can idenfity and finetune their ideas for success!

What is strategy? Examples: Uber, Airbnb, TripAdvisor

If you want to know what strategy is you need to know Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. He is the foremost strategy scholar. His work is by far the most cited among all strategy experts. He has almost five times as many citations as the second-ranked. Simply put, if you want to understand strategy you need to learn prof Porter’s framework.

But here is the question: why does everybody keep using the same old examples? Can Porter’s framework explain the strategy of the exciting start-ups of our time? The answer is a resounding yes. In fact, it is the best tool to explain their success!

Come in for an insightful journey!

Platform Business Model

One of the biggest innovation opportunities right now is the revolutionary platform business model (click here for an overview) that fuels Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, Google, ... a great opportunity for start-ups and established companies.

Innovate like Uber & Airbnb

Get a knowledge burst on sharing platform business models (click here) with ebooks & infographics
sharing platform business model

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