Dependent on another platform?
https://twitter.com/tim_leland/status/1536502924628705280?s=21&t=uEGMlkdZ9ELB5T0hL5r-5A
Indiehackers often build their product on top of another platform. In my case, at any point, Google could remove my extensions and it is definitely a possibility. But we shouldn’t be afraid of what could happen just focus on things we can control.
Building on another platform:
Pros:
Cons:
It's all about control and risks. If you want to be in complete control of your destiny, don't build on someone's platform. But good luck with the user acquisition and brand discovery :-)
Great points! I think for IH, building on top of a platform or marketplace is the best way to get started.
We, Howitzer are built on top of another platform - Reddit, and totally dependent on them.
The key point here is to stay under the radar (which we aren't anymore) and bring real value (to the platform you are built on top of). Howitzer brings a lot of value, because it's the only totally working solution for Reddit marketing (some of our customers even say that it's much better compared to Reddit Ads).
Don't worry about being dependent on Google if you have an extension - that's a marketplace and you are part of it.
If we raised $500,000 with a product built on top of other platform, then you can definitely do it, by being a part of a marketplace.
A philosophical thought - everything is built on top of another layer, and everything depends on something :)
Not really true. For instance, my SAAS (monicahq.com) doesn't depend on anyone or anything. I'm in complete control and nothing can shut it down 😀
That's why I said 'philosophical thought'.
It depends on the internet, on the electricity, on the market :)
Everything is built on top of another layer - that's what evolution is;
The cars run on fossil gas, which depends on the fossils, and so on.
Again - you are quoting my philosophical thought, so that's why I go into these details. I know that it's really not applicable and it's not the way to go with your mindset, but that's exactly the message - don't turn your mindset in that direction :)
No company can shut it down. The government can.
Great point thanks for sharing!
From a practical perspective, it's pretty much impossible not to have dependencies. The trick is to weigh the risk vs the reward. If something would take a long time for you to build and it wouldn't be that big of a deal if you had to switch to another provider, then of course I'd say go for it. But if it's the other way around...
For example, I have a substack newsletter. Obviously I'm not going to build my own substack and there are huge benefits to their platform. And if they go tits up (which is unlikely), I own my subscriber list and can pretty easily migrate elsewhere.
However, I know about products that are fully dependent on something that could be changed on a whim. And that's way too risky for me. Makes me think of those old iPhone flash light apps that got wiped out by Apple adding their own to the OS.
Also, just a side not, but no human is an island. We're all depending on people and organizations and networks and infrastructures that could fail at any time. It's all about becoming as resilient to these failures as possible. And choosing who we depend on wisely.
Here's an interesting article on software dependencies that might be helpful to some.
I would argue that it's almost impossible to build without existing platforms.
The key is to spot tech that isn't going anywhere because it can't (too big to fail).
You're right though that at any moment these mega corps can pull anyone of our apps off their platforms.
It's something to be aware of but it shouldn't prevent action.
I agree about not being afraid of the dependency. Only one of my projects is reliant on another platform right now (gathergoat.com - Twitter) and I plan on keeping it that way for a while.
burnt many times... so I only choose megatech platform these days.
I've been burnt twice. Mostly by PAAS startups that decided to pivot.