Scaling a platform requires a particular set of considerations beyond reliability, including network effects. For instance, it is important to gather and analyze data on both the platform’s target market and its current users in order to continually grow consumption. In addition to cultivating a growing quantity of interactions and having a resilient infrastructure that can support this, it is also essential to maintain the quality of interactions that made the platform attractive to users in the first place. At higher levels of growth, this curation strategy must also scale, either through algorithms or social tools.
We scaled a collaborative-consumption platform through PR campaigns targeting the multiple types of users interacting on the platform, ongoing analysis of interactions on the platform, and extensive marketing of specific features to current users to increase the quality and quantity of interactions between users. We also automated basic customer service functions and developed an interactive tutorial knowledge base out of common customer support questions. We then expanded the corporate identity and business architecture as part of a strategic initiative to cultivate new types of users.