Are You Missing Growth Opportunities for Your Platform?
Four ways to scale. by David J. Bryce, Jeff Dyer and Marshall W. Van Alstyne

Eva Jauss
Summary.
Digital platforms have been remarkably successful businesses for both native platform firms and traditional corporations. Seven of the world’s 10 most valuable companies have launched platform businesses, as have over 60% of unicorn startups. Many companies that didn’t start out as platform businesses—from retailers Walmart and Amazon to software providers Salesforce and ServiceNow—have also successfully accelerated their growth through platform strategies.
Read more on Growth strategy or related topics Technology and analytics, Customer strategy, Creativity, Open innovation and Leadership vision
A version of this article appeared in the May–June 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Read more on Growth strategy or related topics Technology and analytics, Customer strategy, Creativity, Open innovation and Leadership vision