The Platform Delusion

Who Wins and Who Loses in the Age of Tech Titans

By: Jonathan A. Knee

Narrated by: Jonathan A. Knee

An investment banker and professor explains what really drives success in the tech economy

Many think that they understand the secrets to the success of the biggest tech companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It's the platform economy, or network effects, or some other magical power that makes their ultimate world domination inevitable. Investment banker and professor Jonathan Knee argues that the truth is much more complicated--but entrepreneurs and investors can understand what makes the giants work, and learn the keys to lasting success in the digital economy.

Knee explains what really makes the biggest tech companies work: a surprisingly disparate portfolio of structural advantages buttressed by shrewd acquisitions, strong management, lax regulation, and often, encouraging the myth that they are invincible to discourage competitors. By offering fresh insights into the true sources of strength and very real vulnerabilities of these companies, The Platform Delusion shows how investors, existing businesses, and startups might value them, compete with them, and imitate them.

The Platform Delusion demystifies the success of the biggest digital companies in sectors from retail to media to software to hardware, offering readers what those companies don't want everyone else to know. Knee's insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs and investors in digital businesses seeking to understand what drives resilience and profitability for the long term.

Timely and Profound!

A remarkable and thought provoking book. This should, without a doubt, be included in every entrepreneur's collection.

Important Book Pushes Against Conventional Wisdom

When you listen to enough of these books they all start sounding the same. This was the first book that tried to explain that the idea of creating "network effects" is not as easy as everyone seems to think it is. This author steps you through the FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) companies and explains why they work. It is an important book for anyone wanting to be an entrepreneur in the Information Age.

systematic and comprehensive review

Although explained in a simple manner, it contains a lot of insights i will apply in my PhD and in my career.

Good yet imperfect analysis of big tech leaders

I was looking forward to this book because it is a very interesting topic for me. Fundamentally, the author confuses a platform with a channel. Turns out, he is not a technologist but a financial expert. Netflix is not really a platform. Anyway, the book is really an analysis on FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) how they take advantage of the network effect and how it impacts and their competitive advantages. In this it is good. I don´t agree with some of his observations but it is an interesting book.

Total Negativity

The whole book can be sumirized as. This large platform companies are bad investment because one day they will run out of steam. When? In a year? 5? 20? who knows but some day. A waste of credit and time.