HubSpot's Platform Ecosystem Is Becoming A Platform Economy

Since joining HubSpot in late 2018, I've penned a couple of posts on HubSpot's blogs. Each of them - typically - touches on what I'm looking to build at HubSpot. An open, fair ecosystem of apps and integrations built by every type of developer for every type of customer.

Whether you're venture backed or not, many people or just one person, you're welcome.

Which was the motivation for my most recent post on HubSpot's blog. I've always believed technology "Platforms" don't merely come about because a product is integrated with others. These days, that's table stakes stuff.

Instead, true Platforms are those that create entirely new economies around them - not just ecosystems of developers around them. Building unique apps is one thing. Facilitating the creation of entirely new businesses - and business models - quite another.

Search engine marketing didn't exist until Google and Lycos came on the scene. Social Media agencies didn't exist before Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo. Instagram and Uber might not exist if smartphones like the iPhone, and operating systems like iOS and Android didn not exist.

Technology Platforms are not perfect. They - like any new technology, or any new invention - have flaws, usually related to how people use them. That said, net-net, Platforms can be creators of new opportunities, new inventions, new businesses, new jobs. Something worth celebrating.