Reference primer for The Story. There are three distinct ways a company can position itself between the people in a market. They get lumped together, but they're not the same, and the difference matters for where we're headed.
Marketplace — own the match. A marketplace connects two transacting parties and earns its money per deal. You find each other through us, you transact, we take a cut. The asset is the matching, and once the two sides are connected our role in that deal is essentially done. Classic ride-hailing: a rider needs a ride, a driver provides it, the platform matches them and earns a fee on the fare.
Platform — own the foundation. A platform provides the tools and infrastructure that others build on top of. Instead of matching two sides for a one-time transaction, we supply the base other parties use to run their own operations and set their own terms. Shopify is the cleanest example: it doesn't sell you a product, it gives merchants, developers, and payment providers a foundation to build their own businesses on. The App Store works the same way, with Apple setting the conditions for every transaction that happens there.
Aggregator — own the customer. An aggregator owns the demand-side relationship and keeps widening what it sells through it. The product category is almost incidental; the asset is the customer and their default-buying habit. This is Amazon. They started owning the book-buyer, then realized a book-buyer is just a buyer — so now the same relationship sells nail clippers, groceries, prescriptions, doorbells, and doctor visits. (The term comes from Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory, if anyone wants the full treatment.)
The short version: a marketplace owns the match, a platform owns the foundation, an aggregator owns the customer.
Strategy Notebook
Reference primer for The Story. There are three distinct ways a company can position itself between the people in a market. They get lumped together, but they're not the same, and the difference matters for where we're headed.
Marketplace — own the match. A marketplace connects two transacting parties and earns its money per deal. You find each other through us, you transact, we take a cut. The asset is the matching, and once the two sides are connected our role in that deal is essentially done. Classic ride-hailing: a rider needs a ride, a driver provides it, the platform matches them and earns a fee on the fare.
Platform — own the foundation. A platform provides the tools and infrastructure that others build on top of. Instead of matching two sides for a one-time transaction, we supply the base other parties use to run their own operations and set their own terms. Shopify is the cleanest example: it doesn't sell you a product, it gives merchants, developers, and payment providers a foundation to build their own businesses on. The App Store works the same way, with Apple setting the conditions for every transaction that happens there.
Aggregator — own the customer. An aggregator owns the demand-side relationship and keeps widening what it sells through it. The product category is almost incidental; the asset is the customer and their default-buying habit. This is Amazon. They started owning the book-buyer, then realized a book-buyer is just a buyer — so now the same relationship sells nail clippers, groceries, prescriptions, doorbells, and doctor visits. (The term comes from Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory, if anyone wants the full treatment.)
The short version: a marketplace owns the match, a platform owns the foundation, an aggregator owns the customer.