Very short outline of multi-sided platforms in the context of free products and services. For illustration purposes. Refer to technical papers for more info.

1. Practical considerations
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2. MSP Outline
 Overview
 Transaction diagram
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3. MSP Overview
 MSP: Businesses connecting different groups of customers, such
that demand by one group increases demand by the other group
and vice versa. This positive interdependence across groups is
called indirect network effects. - Andrei Hagiu (2009)
 Network effect: “magnetic force” created by one group on to the
other group
 Examples: credit card companies (consumers / merchants),
shopping malls (customers / stores), web search engines (end
users / advertisers), computer operating systems (program
developers / end users), video games (game developers / gamers),
social networks (end users / advertisers)
 Transition from brick and mortar to digital delivery of service is
catalyst for MSP models
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4. Multi-sided platform: 2 transactions
Side A Side B
Mind share $
Buyer Platform Seller
Free goods Services to
seller
Interaction or
transaction
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5. Multi-sided platform: 2 transactions
 Transaction T1 (side A)
 Seller delivers free product or service
 Buyer pays with mind share
 Transaction T2 (side B)
 Seller sells commercial product or service
 Buyer pays with money
 Side A and side B are statically established
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6. info@nicolaspujol.com
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