Platform

Platform Do's and Don'ts (W3 focus)

Do explore the enterprise - opportunity abounds: Solving for complex use cases at scale requires an experienced, multi-dimensional team of experts that is hard to compose, which leads the enterprise to buy instead of build internally.

Do be wary of customers demanding control: An ever-expanding customer requirement to have greater flexibility has throttled adoption of new platforms (e.g. Particle). Customers will tell you: 1. what they like, 2. what they don't like, and 3. how they would like you to fix it. Listen to the first two - be VERY careful with the third - it is YOUR job to innovate, not the customer's.

Don’t respond with consultative, short-term solutions: We regularly see customer’s tailored needs forcing Founders to adopt service-driven approaches, denting fantasies of hypergrowth.

Do evaluate as incumbents add to their artillery: This is why we are ​bear-ish on “me-too” platform builders that need to leap over an ever-lengthening moat of infrastructure to compete favorably.​ If you're committed to going after the incumbent, ensure that you can deliver a massive business without necessarily delivering on a platform...work toward it, but don't let your success depend on it.

Don’t accept that acquisition is the inevitable path to exit: Promising startups are often acquired early (before they know the full value of what they are building in emerging markets) to be integrated into incumbent solutions that promise higher ROI, throttling the startup underdog success stories.

Do swing big, and lean upon deep domain expertise to thrive, independent from incumbents. For example, ​C3.ai​ has built strong relationships in the Oil & Gas space to drive stable growth, ​Uptake​ has focused on manufacturing, while ​Samsara​ specialized in fleet management.