Rob Walling

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.

Facebook, do you remember, I think it was Zynga, right, that was doing tens of millions of dollars on the Facebook app marketplace, and Facebook just pulled the rug out from under them because they don't give a shit. about their developers. I mean, they've been pretty obvious about that. They care about Facebook and no one else. And so there are other aggressive platforms.

Facebook, do you remember, I think it was Zynga, right, that was doing tens of millions of dollars on the Facebook app marketplace, and Facebook just pulled the rug out from under them because they don't give a shit. about their developers. I mean, they've been pretty obvious about that. They care about Facebook and no one else. And so there are other aggressive platforms.

Again, I do not have an exhaustive list because I just don't have experience with all of the 80 platforms that we've listed at that microconf link I said earlier. And so this is where there's just an existential risk.

Again, I do not have an exhaustive list because I just don't have experience with all of the 80 platforms that we've listed at that microconf link I said earlier. And so this is where there's just an existential risk.

If you have a Shopify app that's doing millions of dollars a year and they come a-knocking, you're getting all your leads from them, your customers are concentrated on their platform, and there just literally is no replacement. There's nowhere to switch. Again, we can say, oh, you can go to BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and these other things, but it's not the same.

If you have a Shopify app that's doing millions of dollars a year and they come a-knocking, you're getting all your leads from them, your customers are concentrated on their platform, and there just literally is no replacement. There's nowhere to switch. Again, we can say, oh, you can go to BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and these other things, but it's not the same.

That's starting a brand new business. And that risk that we've seen play out many times, and that's why these... app marketplaces are number eight in my list of eight levels of platform risk. Hope you enjoyed this episode. I think the list is directionally correct and I could see either there being another one added.

That's starting a brand new business. And that risk that we've seen play out many times, and that's why these... app marketplaces are number eight in my list of eight levels of platform risk. Hope you enjoyed this episode. I think the list is directionally correct and I could see either there being another one added.

You know, if someone were to email in questions at startupsfortherestofus.com or you hit me up on ex-Twitter at Rob Walling, I think there might be another one that I've maybe not thinking about or I could see them gently reordering, because there is a little bit of an it depends, right?

You know, if someone were to email in questions at startupsfortherestofus.com or you hit me up on ex-Twitter at Rob Walling, I think there might be another one that I've maybe not thinking about or I could see them gently reordering, because there is a little bit of an it depends, right?

I said it's like if you're built completely under WordPress and completely in it, it depends on is your switching cost low, medium, or high to rebuild it somewhere else. Like that could move that one up or down by one, but it's not going to move it to three slots, right? It's not going to suddenly become as bad as having a Shopify app where they are just known to be really aggressive with it.