%0 Journal Article %J Open Source Business Resource %D 2010 %T Q&A. How do you motivate potential participants to pay to join a platform? %A James Makienko %X A company that operates a multi-sided platform must convince participants to pay an affiliation fee to access the platform. The challenge is to determine what it will take to motivate the participants to pay to collaborate with each other. To motivate participants to pay an affiliation fee, a multi-sided platform must deliver unique value to the various stakeholder groups its sides represent. For example, if a platform is designed to generate revenue from three stakeholder groups: developers, users and researchers, it must deliver unique value to each of these three groups. Developers must receive more value from participating in the platform than the value received from not participating in the platform. The same holds true for users and researchers. To generate revenue, a platform must be designed to deliver compelling value propositions for each stakeholder group. To illustrate how this can be achieved, we will describe five lessons learned while defining value propositions for a technology company. %B Open Source Business Resource %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %8 09/2010 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/382 %N July 2010 %9 Q and A %1 Carleton University James Makienko is an M.A.Sc. student in the Technology Innovation Management program at Carleton University. His research interests include business ecosystems, go-to-market channels, deal and contract development, and web-based deal development platforms. He holds a B.Eng. in Computer Systems Engineering from Carleton University and previously worked in software development, technical support, and security.