Open Platforms are at RISK

By 20VC

Categories: VC, Startup

Summary

Open platforms face a high risk of being bypassed by more specialized agent-based solutions, even for dominant players like Salesforce and Shopify. The key is understanding how user discovery and the most valuable interactions may shift away from the native platform.

Key Takeaways

  1. Recognize that even dominant open platforms like Salesforce are at risk of being circumvented by specialized agent-based solutions that users prefer.
  2. Monitor how users' most valuable interactions may start to bypass the native platform interface, as discovery and key activities shift to third-party agents.
  3. Proactively adapt your platform strategy to address the risk of being sidelined by more nimble agent-based solutions that offer a superior user experience.
  4. Understand that even closed platforms are not immune, as they may still be slightly bypassed by alternative solutions that find ways to integrate with or work around the platform.
  5. Regularly evaluate your platform's stickiness and engagement metrics to identify early signs of user behavior shifting towards external agents or solutions.
  6. Explore ways to preemptively build or acquire agent-based capabilities to maintain control over the user experience and avoid being sidelined on your own platform.

Related topics

Transcript Excerpt

I believe every platform that is open is at risk that an agent is better than the native platform and every platform that is closed is at risk of being at least slightly bypassed. And that's the risk is that I haven't logged into Salesforce in 6 months, but we use it every every minute. Our agents use it every minute. I think it would be disingenuous to say that couldn't happen to Shopify. That agentic commerce agents part of discovery is going to happen on my sofa. Don't get me wrong, but all the stuff that really matters may bypass the user interface of Shopify.…

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