Wave 3 – Building a Platform

Achieving Product Market Fit, to then Cost-Effectively Horizontalize and Build a Competitive Moat

W3 represents a move towards horizontal models that first focus on a killer app to (1) achieve product market fit, (2) scale, and (3) cost-effectively extend features into new domains.

Horizontalizing can mean expanding within a large-scale facility, across multiple product domains or industries, or through integrating a new data source. In the case of physical robots, entering W3 often means refactoring the software used in W2 to realize user-friendly and rapidly deployable solutions.

The ROI focus shifts from a mechanically and economically feasible standalone solution to a synergistic hub of integrated solutions. W3 marks the move towards overall economics of the platform. As network effects kick in, value delivered to the customer increases in a non-linear fashion, translating into a higher revenue potential. On the other hand, tapping into economies of scale and scope make per unit cost fall, part of which translate into higher customer value.

Both the top-line and bottom-line effect are amplified as we build for commercial scale. This is where the true value to the customer is unlocked. The market size multiplier of platform plays is why we find W3 so compelling.