Case Study: Platform start-up phase: the case of Airbnb, Etsy and Uber The case study tells the story of the inception and early growth of three famous major public platform businesses. It deals with one of the most difficult aspects of platform management: how to manage the "chicken or egg" dilemma of building a two sided market and maintaining network effects. Reading to be completed: Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand Customers by Thales S. Teixeira; Morgan Brown Harvard Case 9-516-094 Hagiu, A. (2014). Strategic decisions for multisided platforms. MIT Sloan Management Review, 55(2), 71-80. Questions:

1) Explain in each case how the platforms started up

2) Explain how each case solved the "chicken or egg" problem of forming the two sided market and maintaining the network effect? What negative effects intervened?

3) How did each case monetise the platform? Were there other options? (eg. cooperative, social enterprise)

4) What lessons are there from these examples for other platforms such as your design? Are the lessons the same for public platforms (b2b / c2c / b2c) and private platforms?