Publication | Harvard Business Review Press
Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms
David Evans and Richard Schmalensee
May 2016
Many dynamic public companies and valuable startups are matchmakers that connect one group of customers with another group of customers. Economists call matchmakers multisided platforms because they provide physical or virtual platforms for multiple groups to get together.
In Matchmakers, David Evans and Richard Schmalensee, two economists who were among the first to analyze multisided platforms and discover their principles, and who have consulted for some of the most successful platform businesses in the world, explain how matchmakers work best in practice, why they do what they do, and how entrepreneurs can improve their chances for success.