Rob Walling

And it's the business factors, it's the growth and new customers and customer concentration that I've put at the six, seven, and eight spot. Because those are the ones that are so hard to replace. And I've seen several businesses killed. You talk about Google changing their algorithm every, what, three, six, nine months?

And it's the business factors, it's the growth and new customers and customer concentration that I've put at the six, seven, and eight spot. Because those are the ones that are so hard to replace. And I've seen several businesses killed. You talk about Google changing their algorithm every, what, three, six, nine months?

And entire affiliate businesses that were doing millions of dollars basically go to zero overnight. So the reason I have this as number six is is that if Bubble 10x their pricing or had a big outage, you could rebuild that. And if you're hosted on AWS or using SendGrid or using WordPress, you can rebuild it.

And entire affiliate businesses that were doing millions of dollars basically go to zero overnight. So the reason I have this as number six is is that if Bubble 10x their pricing or had a big outage, you could rebuild that. And if you're hosted on AWS or using SendGrid or using WordPress, you can rebuild it.

The risks are there, but they're lower than if you lose Google where there is no replacement and you lose all your organic rankings, it can be existential to the business. The seventh level of platform risk, I've put a friendly app ecosystem. So an example of this is Heroku. Like Heroku apps in general thrive.

The risks are there, but they're lower than if you lose Google where there is no replacement and you lose all your organic rankings, it can be existential to the business. The seventh level of platform risk, I've put a friendly app ecosystem. So an example of this is Heroku. Like Heroku apps in general thrive.

Heroku has not, at least to date, and this could change, but they have not screwed their developers. Unlike number eight level of platform risk or aggressive platforms, but... Heroku is one example. I'm sure there are many, many others. In fact, we have a list of, I think, 80 SaaS marketplaces. And it's microconf.com slash latest slash SaaS dash marketplaces. We'll link it up in the show notes.

Heroku has not, at least to date, and this could change, but they have not screwed their developers. Unlike number eight level of platform risk or aggressive platforms, but... Heroku is one example. I'm sure there are many, many others. In fact, we have a list of, I think, 80 SaaS marketplaces. And it's microconf.com slash latest slash SaaS dash marketplaces. We'll link it up in the show notes.

But there's Salesforce, AppExchange, Zoho Marketplace, HubSpot App Marketplace, Pipedrive, Less Annoying CRM, Microsoft App Store, Slack App Directory, on and on and on. There are 80 of them. I won't read them here. And look, here's the thing. Can I name all of the ones that are friendly and all the ones that are aggressive? No, because I don't know enough about them.

But there's Salesforce, AppExchange, Zoho Marketplace, HubSpot App Marketplace, Pipedrive, Less Annoying CRM, Microsoft App Store, Slack App Directory, on and on and on. There are 80 of them. I won't read them here. And look, here's the thing. Can I name all of the ones that are friendly and all the ones that are aggressive? No, because I don't know enough about them.

I would guess that big companies like Salesforce and now Slack, because it's owned by Salesforce, are kind of a pain in the ass. And if they're not yet, that they will become that. And I would guess that smaller companies and those that have not yet been acquired by a bigger player or a public company or private equity are going to be... likely more friendly, but those are just guidelines.

I would guess that big companies like Salesforce and now Slack, because it's owned by Salesforce, are kind of a pain in the ass. And if they're not yet, that they will become that. And I would guess that smaller companies and those that have not yet been acquired by a bigger player or a public company or private equity are going to be... likely more friendly, but those are just guidelines.

If you think about this, it's theoretical in a way of like, well, a friendly platform is friendly until it's not. And that's really what platform risk is, is when we think about the aggressive platforms that I'll name in level eight, they all were friendly at one point.

If you think about this, it's theoretical in a way of like, well, a friendly platform is friendly until it's not. And that's really what platform risk is, is when we think about the aggressive platforms that I'll name in level eight, they all were friendly at one point.

And so that really is the scary part of being built on in that marketplace and why being in a marketplace holds the seventh and eighth spot in terms of platform risk. Yeah. And the eighth and final level of platform risk is, of course, an aggressive platform. This is where there is no replacement. You basically have 100% customer concentration. You have 100% of your lead flow from this platform.

And so that really is the scary part of being built on in that marketplace and why being in a marketplace holds the seventh and eighth spot in terms of platform risk. Yeah. And the eighth and final level of platform risk is, of course, an aggressive platform. This is where there is no replacement. You basically have 100% customer concentration. You have 100% of your lead flow from this platform.

and the platform is not developer-friendly. So this is Shopify, Twitter, Facebook. I'm sure there are more that I could pontificate about. I'm naming these because they have completely decimated companies that we've heard about or that I've invested in. You hear Jordan Gall talk about Shopify coming after Cart Hook, and that's not the first nor the last time that Shopify will do that.

and the platform is not developer-friendly. So this is Shopify, Twitter, Facebook. I'm sure there are more that I could pontificate about. I'm naming these because they have completely decimated companies that we've heard about or that I've invested in. You hear Jordan Gall talk about Shopify coming after Cart Hook, and that's not the first nor the last time that Shopify will do that.

We heard Twitter jerk around anyone using their API once Elon Musk bought it, and I think they did this, didn't they do this about eight or ten years ago with Twitter clients? I actually don't remember, but they did something big back then.

We heard Twitter jerk around anyone using their API once Elon Musk bought it, and I think they did this, didn't they do this about eight or ten years ago with Twitter clients? I actually don't remember, but they did something big back then.