Innovation – The Age of the Platform

The Problem, Dear Marissa, Lies Not Within Yahoo!

Marissa Mayer knew what she was getting into. She's getting big bucks to turn around the once-mighty Yahoo!

From my standpoint, the company's problem is very simple.

Yahoo! has not really embraced platform thinking. Unlike Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and scores of others, Yahoo! doesn't really encourage external innovation. Until the company does, I'm not betting on a turnaround. In other words, the problem isn't inside Yahoo! It's outside–and no internal

Why Most Big Companies Can’t Innovate

There's an interesting post on HBR about why so few large companies routinely innovate. Of course, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are all exceptions. From the piece:

What's striking about Fast Company's 2013 list of the world's 50 most innovative companies is the relative absence of large, established firms. Instead the list is dominated by the big technology winners of the past 20 years that have built innovation into

WP Engine Interview on The Age of the Platform

I recently sat down with WPEngine CEO Ben Metcalfe to talk about The Age of the Platform, WordPress, and a host of other topics. It goes for about 16 minutes.

Keynote: Management in the Age of the Platform

My 54-minute keynote and Q&A from the Columbus, OH OCLC event in September of this year is now up. I talk about the management philosophies of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. I also discuss the similarities between Instagram and YouTube, Microsoft's purchase of Yammer, and a whole host of other topics.

OCLC Keynote #3: The Age of the Platform

In this 45-minute talk at OCLC in Columbus, OH, I discuss The Age of the Platform and the platform as a business model. I then take about 15 minutes worth of questions.

The End of Silicon Valley As We Know It?

Does Yammer represent the last acquisition of its kind? It's an interesting question discussed by a bunch of tech heavyweights here, including Marc Andreesen.

Many comments touch on many different points. For my part, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have concurrently made it easy and difficult for others to innovate on their platforms. Open APIs and SDKs encourage short-term innovation. However, as we've seen with StockTwits and others, those improvements can

On Stocktwits and Frenemies

Imagine for a second that you're Howard Lindzon, founder of StockTwits. Your company uses the Twitter API search on stock ticker symbols. For instance, clicking on $AAPL provides financial information about Apple's stock price, financials, and the like.

And then you wake up today to find that Twitter likes your idea so much that it's effectively copied it. Aside from hashtags, Twitter now supports cashtags.

Mr. Lindzon: Welcome to the Age of

Innovation, Google Plus, and the Additive Power of Platforms

Tabletop Forge is an interesting Kickstarter project that "lets you play tabletop role-playing games inside of a Google+ Hangout. Includes dice, maps, and great audio/video."

In a word, wow.

Two things here. First, Google+ isn't a separate or standalone platform; it's a plank in the Google platform.

Second and more important, today we are seeing the rapid innovation and development of different planks and platforms. Kickstarter and other funding platforms are becoming metaplatforms:

On Microsoft and Marissa Mayer’s Challenge

On HBR, Dorie Clark compares the challenges faced by Yahoo's new CEO to those faced by Microsoft in 1995. She writes that "Microsoft had missed the boat on the Internet and, from that moment forward, would make it their primary strategic focus."

True, but Microsoft had locked in many enterprise customers with Office, SQL Server, etc. and many consumers with windows. The Consumerization of IT means that people have increased choice,

Postal Vision 2020 Keynote

Here's my recent 30-minute keynote address from Postal Vision 2020. I talk about The Age of the Platform, the Gang of Four, and the implications for the postal service. Video courtesy of Ursa Major Associates, copyright 2012.