We've come to the end of this course on platform thinking as a tool for designing a platform. We've seen together how transactional two-sided platforms work, we've seen why they need a careful and detailed design of the value proposition and why it's not enough for platforms to act as a matchmaker between parties. In addition to this we talked about the difficulties in launching a platform, the chicken and egg paradox and the tactics to solve it, but also about various collaborative strategies to launch a platform and the possibility to create a platform even in a particular context such as a tour operator with a linear value chain or even at the cinema with Marvel and then we asked ourselves how to grow a platform in a multi-sided perspective. Now that we're at the end of the course, you should all be clear in your minds about the peculiarities of platforms, the opportunities they offer, but also the challenges to make them happen. With all this in our hands, we are ready for the last lesson of this course, in which we will see the Platform Thinking process, to imagine, design and try to launch your own platform. In many of the cases we've talked about, the platform idea came from a real-world situation where one of the founders had a problem. In this course, however, we want to see platforms primarily as a tool, or rather lenses, for doing innovation. Therefore, in this last phase, we would focus on applying platform thinking in an existing company, although this process is also applicable for a startup already based on a platform structure. The process consists of 3 steps in addition to creating a baseline: first, the identification of idle assets. Second, designing the platform ecosystem. And third, the roadmap for the launch. The first step is related to the basic mechanism of the platforms, the ability to identify and exploit idle assets. Companies like Uber have identified idle assets in the marketplace, idle cars and driver time, and have built a system that can make these assets more profitable for their owners and for the platform. And then they saw in their customer base, and again in drivers waiting for rides, another idle asset to exploit...delivering food, and Uber Eats was born. Then realizing the value of all the data collected over the years, Uber Movement was born, the platform that allows research centers to have access to data on trips made via Uber to study mobility. Why not do the same thing within an established organization? Identifying idle assets is done through two tools: the Business Model Canvas and the Idle Asset Canvas. The business model canvas is used to set a baseline, identify the main elements related to the creation and capture of value in your organization. This step might seem trivial, but it serves to take a step back from the most obvious perspective and strive for a 360° view of the organization we are working in. Who creates value? How does it create value? Who are the key partners? What do we offer our customers? How do we reach them? And most importantly, how do we capture the value created? These are just some of the questions we ask ourselves as we fill out the business model canvas in its 9 blocks. It is fundamental, in this step, to clearly highlight two main things: all the players involved and all the value flows happening among them. The second tool, the Idle Assets Canvas, is used to do a critical analysis of our organization and understand where untapped value might be hiding. Clear metrics list all the players identified in the previous step, included the organization you're applying this process to and list all of them both on the raws and on the columns. At this point you should, for all the players, use the box on the diagonal and write there all the relevant assets that they own in terms of data, knowhow, relationships and physical resources. In all the other boxes write what the player on the raw could find valuable from the actor of the column. Assess the assets emerged and wonder if any other players not in the value map may be interested and added in a column and in a raw. You probably won't fill in all the intersections, but this exercise prompts you to question what the actual assets in a system are and new possible ways of leveraging them. At this point, we take three sets of sticky notes, 3 different colors, one for possible transactions, another one for client-as-a-target strategies, and a third one for client as a source strategies. And you try to see them in the metrics. This will be the starting point for the next step. The second step is the design of the platform ecosystem. In other words, it consists of identifying which actors we want to include in the platform and with which role. The first step, in this case, involves the clear identification of the actors, divided between: Supply side Demand side Orthogonal sides And the types of exchanges that they can have within the platform: Money (by default or in freemium mode), data, services and Data-Driven Value Added Services. As an example, to understand the tool better, we could map Uber with the following sides: End users, as demand side Drivers as supply side Restaurants as another supply side The research centers customers of Uber Movement and map the kind of relationship that exists between them. The third and final step is to define a roadmap for launching the platform. We've seen in this course how launching a platform is anything but simple, how there are imminent difficulties like the chicken and egg paradox, but also interesting possibilities like the evolution towards a multi-sided platform. The success of great platforms lies in a continuous evolution, in the ability to grow and add new sides and new relationships between existing sides. To do this, however, we need to think about two elements. The first is the value proposition of the platform. Adding new sides is an interesting opportunity to maximize the profit of the platform, but it must be done with knowledge. What is the value proposition of the platform as a whole? Giving a clear answer to this question is a necessary condition to create coherent ecosystems, where the various sides blend naturally. From this point of view it is nice to quote Airbnb that with its slogan "Belong Anywhere" promotes the local dimension of its global platform, helping travelers to see cities through the eyes of locals, sleeping in their homes and living local experiences thanks to the Experience providers. The last step is to define the actual roadmap. Which side do I start from? Or rather, which side do I start from? How do I bring them on board? How do I solve the chicken and egg paradox? And then what other sides do I bring on board? Help to answer all of these questions is hidden in the clips of this course, but it's important to have a reference map of how we believe our platform can take shape. Trivially Uber could never have started by creating Uber Movement....but we can design a system where the equivalent of Uber Movement will be there, and do everything we can to make it a reality as soon as possible. I close with a thought. This process is not meant to be a deterministic process, aimed at compiling some templates that will lead to the design of the perfect platform. On the contrary, this process does not have the ambition to generate the perfect platform per se, but wants to offer support to you, the innovator who wants to see the world through the eyes of the Platform Thinker, who believes in the power of platforms and wants to try to innovate the organization in which he or she works. With this mindset, these tools can support you in critical analysis, in highlighting elements that otherwise you wouldn't see...in a few words they can help you in platform thinking, which before a process, is a mindset. Good luck with your platform thinking process!
