Talking about Platforms Boundary Resources and Supply Sides with Kimmo Karhu
Feb 5, 2026
Kimmo Karhu, Assistant Professor at Aalto University with industry experience in product development, explores platform strategy and digital ecosystems. He discusses boundary resources like APIs and SDKs. He contrasts Android and Apple, explains fixes like Google Play services, and examines how platform tools shape producer experience, innovation, and governance.
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Platform Defined By Inversion And Network Effects
- Platforms succeed when the owner gives up some value creation to third parties and enables direct producer-user interaction.
- That inversion plus resulting network effects defines true platform business models.
Boundary Resources Are Core Infrastructure
- Boundary resources are the tools and rules that let platforms leverage and manage external value creation.
- Good boundary resources are essential when you rely on millions of external producers.
Invest In Producer Experience
- Design the producer experience with as much care as the user experience when running a platform.
- Build SDKs, APIs and apps that help producers succeed and shape the user-facing experience.