Platform Strategy

Biological Parallel

Platform strategies create infrastructure that others build on. Coral reefs are biological platforms—coral polyps build calcium carbonate structures that hundreds of species colonize, creating ecosystems far more valuable than the coral alone. The coral doesn't hunt or farm; it provides architecture that attracts symbionts, predators, and prey into a self-reinforcing system. Platform power comes from being the foundation layer: control the reef structure, control the ecosystem. But platforms are vulnerable—bleaching events kill coral and collapse the entire dependent community.