Sagar Kulkarni

So, here is the thing. I read Blue Ocean Strategy (Renee A. Mauborgne , W. Chan Kim ) a few years ago, and then recently, I went through The Platform Mindset (Marcus Fontoura). Both are different books, and set of theories written for different kinds of people, but I love smashing ideas together like lego bricks. So, I started thinking ”what happens when you mix these two concepts?”

At first, they seem different. Blue Ocean Strategy says, “Avoid competition by creating something new.” The Platform Mindset says, “Don’t just create— build something that enables others to create.”

The Blue Ocean Strategy talks about escaping the red oceans, where everyone fights each other over the same customers, and instead, creating new, uncontested spaces. Meanwhile, the Platform Mindset talks about not just making a product but building a whole ecosystem around it. So, what if you don’t just create a new ocean but also build the boats, the docks, and the entire marketplace around it?  That’s where I keep circling back.

Is this an Illusion of Competition?

If you look at most businesses, they fight over the same customers with slightly better features, lower prices, and aggressive marketing. Typically, classic red ocean. But real value is not created by fighting its created by defining and changing the rules of the game. But think a while, what if you change the game AND own the playground? I believe that’s where the platform thinking comes in.

Now let’s look at Amazon AWS. They also started with a blue ocean cloud computing at scale, pay-as-you-go. But they didn’t stop at just offering cloud services. They built a ultimate platform an ecosystem of compute power, databases, AI tools, analytics, and serverless functions. You don’t just use AWS; you build on and around AWS.

That’s the key difference. A blue ocean alone can be copied. But a platform blue ocean is hard to replicate

I think most platforms don’t compete each other. They enable others to compete on their terms. Apple App Store doesn’t care if your app is better than the next one it just wants more apps. Amazon Marketplace doesn’t fight individual sellers; it gives them a place to fight each other while taking a cut from every sale. And I think that’s a platform mindset. But if you do this in a blue ocean way, you don’t just enable competition you redefine what success even looks like.

In my opinion “How Blue Ocean Thinking and Platforms Can Work Together?”

Most blue ocean thinkers build a single thing typically a new product, a new service, a new way to solve a problem. But what if, instead of stopping at a product, you built a whole new way of operating? If we take example of Tesla, they didn’t just make electric cars. It made charging networks, software updates, and energy grids etc. a whole platform around cars.

And there are many such.

Thats the missing link, which I thought of. A true blue ocean is not just about making something new but making something that others can build upon. A platform-first blue ocean just not about innovation its about enabling infinite innovation.

The Struggle: When Blue Ocean Thinking Goes Wrong

Of course, not everything works, which I strongly believe, 😊 but at the same time, there is a  lot of learning, too. Thinking that we are creating blue oceans, but end up building a glorified feature inside someone else’s platform. So, I think the trick is balance. A blue ocean platform should give people the tools to build but should also set the rules so that you don’t become just another app inside someone else’s bigger game.

My Own Platform-Blue-Ocean struggle will continue. Am I making a product? Or am I making a system where people can create value? The best ideas seem to lean towards the latter.

If I had to conclude this messy thought process into one line, it would be:

The best way to escape competition and excel is not just to create something new, but to create something that others can build upon. That’s the kind of game worth playing.

What do you think? Does this make sense? Or have I just spent too much time smashing different ideas together unnecessarily? 😊 Please add your thoughts, reference etc. in comments.

#Blue Ocean #PlatformThinking #PlatformMindset #