Commanding Business

Tim’s guest, David Evans, is one of the world’s leading authorities on multisided platform-based businesses. Many of the most dynamic public companies, from Alibaba to Facebook to Visa, and the most valuable start-ups, such as Airbnb and Uber, are matchmakers that connect one group of customers with another group of customers. Don’t let the flashy successes fool you, though. Starting a matchmaker is one of the toughest business challenges, and almost everyone who tries to build one, fails. In today's episode, David Evans explains how matchmakers work best in practice, why they do what they do, and how entrepreneurs can improve their chances for success.   Key Takeaways: [1:03] The 3 big ideas behind the book Matchmakers. [3:15] David Evans describes three scenarios for overcoming the critical mass challenge that platform entrepreneurs face. [8:01] Scenario three requires pre-commitment from one side of the match to encourage investments into the platform. David gives an example from the video game industry. [