From Product to Platform
John Greenfield is Vice President at Everactive, an NEA-backed deep technology startup. As Everactive began to shift its focus from being a product company to being a platform company, he began thinking about professional development for himself and his team. He was drawn to Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms after getting to know Michael Cusumano and learning that the teaching team included Cusumano, along with his The Business of Platforms co-authors David B. Yoffie and Annabelle Gawer.
Thinking back to your time in the program, are there any takeaways that resonate with you on a daily basis?
Two pieces are especially relevant to us right now. The first is around patience: knowing that the development and growth doesn’t happen overnight, that it requires investment, both time and resources. So, it's reassuring to know, "we're on the right track, we need to keep doing the work."
The second is around governance: early on, keep in mind what you’re building—an ecosystem. You don't want to find yourself in a position down the road where something has been built, and someone is using it for a purpose you didn't intend, and you haven't built the right culture or rules into the ecosystem to govern the behavior.
Did you go into the program with any specific goals in mind?
Yes – one overarching goal was to allow the concepts to really sink in. It was such a privilege to be able to spend a full week discussing and debating these topics with peers and our professors—it really helped to cement them.
Another goal was to build the vocabulary and identify modern case studies, which not only came through the classroom discussions, but also from the experiences of other people in the program. That made it much easier for me to bring them back into my own organization, and help our team connect the dots.
Was there an "aha moment" or anything that surprised you about the program?
Two stand out. First, it was great to arrive on the first day, connect with the other people in the program and realize what impressive backgrounds and experiences they each brough to the conversation. I immediately felt that I could learn something from every one of them. It was clear that both HBS and our faculty designed a program with the purpose of bringing together a group of people who could help each other grow.
Second, it was a really diverse group—from professional backgrounds, to cultures, to industries; for example, financial services, automotive, and retail were represented, to name just a few. Participants brought different experiences to the classroom, which provided everyone with a broader perspective and encouraged the learning across industries. As a result, I grew my network and widened my aperture.
Have you been able to implement the learnings from the program at your organization?
Yes, definitely, and part of that is about timing. I attended this program at a time when our organization was just starting to think about these issues as being strategic. And for that reason, it gave me a good opportunity to come back and say, "Here is how we should be thinking about this… these are the questions we need to keep in mind as we go forward."
I also had the benefit of bringing a colleague and friend - our Cloud SW Architect, Carlos Olmos - to the program, we walked away with a shared experience and vocabulary. As situations came up in our organization, we returned to the lessons and principles of the program, which we've also shared with other members of our team.
How would you describe the benefits of the program to somebody who is considering it?
You don't feel like you're sitting in a room with 10 people who are in the same role at competitive companies. That led to an openness in terms of sharing experiences, and that was one of the big benefits for me. In addition, having protected time and space with great peers enabled me to have meaningful conversations – which can be rare in the day-to-day work.
The concentrated one-week nature of the program results in people being quite present, which allows you to get up the learning curve quickly, both with the content and with your peers. My advice: commit, and you'll walk away with meaningful relationships with great people from around the globe, most of whom you hadn't met a week before.