Ged Carroll

Platform utility

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3 minutes estimated reading time

Silicon Valley VC Andreessen Horowitz put togethers slides that cover platform utility and the role of network effects. The  presentation does a good job at providing a taxonomy on different products. It comes in handy when thinking about channel role / platform utility from a media planning perspective and also evaluating start-up ideas. They define platform in terms of development, but for advertisers we can think of it wider as we are likely to be making API calls in terms of data, targeting and ad placement. It is something that we are building demand or brand equity on.

Network Effects from a16z

Key takeouts from the presentation

Network effect benefits

Communications networks laws that provide indicators likely platform utility

If it isn’t clear where they fall within these networks, it’s a warning flag for brands on whether to invest in the platform.

User modes

Case studies