6 ms·

Business Models

186 points by jmelkington 7y ago

foobar_ 7y ago
Odd to find advertisements not being mentioned. That seems to be the goto for publishers. Excellent list!
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Indeed. Some of these models are partially-applied functions - they're missing the part that actually makes them money. For instance: > Network effects (can come in different forms such as direct, two-sided, data): Facebook — the value of the product increases as more people use it Network effects keeps the users in, money is made by ads and surveillance. > Crowdsourcing: YouTube — aggregate content/product from users individuals and distributes them at scale Really, it's also a form of network effects (viewers go where most content is; creators go where most viewers are), and again, money is made by ads and surveillance. Also, missing models: - Regulatory arbitrage: Uber - conquering markets by breaking local laws faster than the regulators can react. - Exploiting social capital: AirBnB - facilitating illegal or highly undesirable behavior at scale, not caring about the neighbors of service's users. Also2: > Open-source: Bitcoin Bitcoin is not a company and does not have a business model. Also, "Open Source" is not a business model. "Donations" and "Paid support" are.
  - admiral33 7y ago
    "Donations" What about companies with products that are "free", with a fixed priced attached when - over an unconstrained period of time - you want to pay (Sublime Text).
    - bdickason 7y ago
      Github felt like it deserved a callout here (Free if open, paid if closed). And there's no mention of free to play games which is a business mdoel powering a large chunk of a big industry.
marban 7y ago
Adding: Democratization of... Knowledge, Luxury, Trading, etc.
motohagiography 7y ago
I did a visual version of this some years ago to reason about companies and products. https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodels https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodels (pdf) The "Arbitrage" version isn't labelled properly, but it's basically taking money from a buyer in one market and buying from a seller in another market, then delivering the service back between markets. It's convoluted and reflects thinking from 5 years ago, but if a product/company doesn't make money one of these ways, it probably doesn't make money, and if it does, metrics are just a matter of scaling numbers in one of the nodes.
- natrik 7y ago
  Link is dead
  - motohagiography 7y ago
    undead, thank you.
- OkGoDoIt 7y ago
  That link appears dead to me. Typo? I’d love to see it
  - jiux 7y ago
    Link was dead for me as well. I took a look at the URL and took “s” off the end. Maybe that is it? https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodel https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodel
    - motohagiography 7y ago
      that's correct, I changed the url to the original.
  - motohagiography 7y ago
    updated, sorry, ridiculous mistake.
heipei 7y ago
I remember reading a comment on HN a while ago about the "basic" ways to create value (and make money) that really resonated with me. I can't for the life of me find it again. It was broken down into things people want like "information that others don't have" and "moving things from place A to place B where they wouldn't be otherwise" etc. Anyone remember that?
- joshdance 7y ago
  Interested if you can find that.
- xwowsersx 7y ago
  How recently?
  - marcosdumay 7y ago
    Based on what I remember testing against the parameters, somewhere around 2013 - 2015.
- FK3LRnamzX 7y ago
  Just in case, have you tried using https://hn.algolia.com/ https://hn.algolia.com/?
- sebg 7y ago
  Remember it and have looked but haven't found it either. I think Paul Buchheit was even in the comment chain and expanded the list or argued against parts of the list or augmented parts of the list.
- coreymatyas 7y ago
  For once my slightly obsessive bookmarking habits come in handy! http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-creation-mechanisms.html http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-creatio... From this comment tree on the original discussion of pg's "Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3687080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3687080 The whole tree is definitely interesting in addition to the blog post linked. Also, a follow-up post a few days later: http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/wealth-production-mechanisms-followup.html http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/wealth-production-mechani...
mercoles 7y ago
Also useful: https://reasonstreet.co/business-model-library/ https://reasonstreet.co/business-model-library/ More like tear downs of each business model and what to measure when deciding
r32a_ 7y ago
Bitcoin is not a company and has no business model. Another day and another bad take about Bitcoin on HN.

Business Models

186 points by jmelkington 7y ago

foobar_ 7y ago

Odd to find advertisements not being mentioned. That seems to be the goto for publishers. Excellent list!

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Indeed. Some of these models are partially-applied functions - they're missing the part that actually makes them money. For instance: > Network effects (can come in different forms such as direct, two-sided, data): Facebook — the value of the product increases as more people use it Network effects keeps the users in, money is made by ads and surveillance. > Crowdsourcing: YouTube — aggregate content/product from users individuals and distributes them at scale Really, it's also a form of network effects (viewers go where most content is; creators go where most viewers are), and again, money is made by ads and surveillance. Also, missing models: - Regulatory arbitrage: Uber - conquering markets by breaking local laws faster than the regulators can react. - Exploiting social capital: AirBnB - facilitating illegal or highly undesirable behavior at scale, not caring about the neighbors of service's users. Also2: > Open-source: Bitcoin Bitcoin is not a company and does not have a business model. Also, "Open Source" is not a business model. "Donations" and "Paid support" are.
- admiral33 7y ago
  "Donations" What about companies with products that are "free", with a fixed priced attached when - over an unconstrained period of time - you want to pay (Sublime Text).
  - bdickason 7y ago
    Github felt like it deserved a callout here (Free if open, paid if closed). And there's no mention of free to play games which is a business mdoel powering a large chunk of a big industry.

marban 7y ago

Adding: Democratization of... Knowledge, Luxury, Trading, etc.

motohagiography 7y ago

I did a visual version of this some years ago to reason about companies and products. https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodels https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodels (pdf) The "Arbitrage" version isn't labelled properly, but it's basically taking money from a buyer in one market and buying from a seller in another market, then delivering the service back between markets. It's convoluted and reflects thinking from 5 years ago, but if a product/company doesn't make money one of these ways, it probably doesn't make money, and if it does, metrics are just a matter of scaling numbers in one of the nodes.

natrik 7y ago
Link is dead
- motohagiography 7y ago
  undead, thank you.
OkGoDoIt 7y ago
That link appears dead to me. Typo? I’d love to see it
- jiux 7y ago
  Link was dead for me as well. I took a look at the URL and took “s” off the end. Maybe that is it? https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodel https://www.qtra.io/hn-comment-bizmodel
  - motohagiography 7y ago
    that's correct, I changed the url to the original.
- motohagiography 7y ago
  updated, sorry, ridiculous mistake.

heipei 7y ago

I remember reading a comment on HN a while ago about the "basic" ways to create value (and make money) that really resonated with me. I can't for the life of me find it again. It was broken down into things people want like "information that others don't have" and "moving things from place A to place B where they wouldn't be otherwise" etc. Anyone remember that?

joshdance 7y ago
Interested if you can find that.
xwowsersx 7y ago
How recently?
- marcosdumay 7y ago
  Based on what I remember testing against the parameters, somewhere around 2013 - 2015.
FK3LRnamzX 7y ago
Just in case, have you tried using https://hn.algolia.com/ https://hn.algolia.com/?
sebg 7y ago
Remember it and have looked but haven't found it either. I think Paul Buchheit was even in the comment chain and expanded the list or argued against parts of the list or augmented parts of the list.
coreymatyas 7y ago
For once my slightly obsessive bookmarking habits come in handy! http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-creation-mechanisms.html http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-creatio... From this comment tree on the original discussion of pg's "Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3687080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3687080 The whole tree is definitely interesting in addition to the blog post linked. Also, a follow-up post a few days later: http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/wealth-production-mechanisms-followup.html http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/wealth-production-mechani...

mercoles 7y ago

Also useful: https://reasonstreet.co/business-model-library/ https://reasonstreet.co/business-model-library/ More like tear downs of each business model and what to measure when deciding

r32a_ 7y ago

Bitcoin is not a company and has no business model. Another day and another bad take about Bitcoin on HN.