Part 3. Describing the Cappasity value proposition — the value in a ‘platform architecture’
Have you ever received a belated present just to find it was the gift you always had hoped for? Part 3 — The Cappasity value proposition — understanding the value in a ‘platform’, is corollary to Part 1, titled: Describing the Cappasity value proposition — The Technology Platform, and Part 2, titled: Describing the Cappasity value proposition — The power of collaboration. Like the belated gift, we hope you find it a valuable read, especially when read in conjunction with Part’s 1 & 2.
We decided to pen, ‘Part 3’ as a result of great interest from our readership in respect of Parts 1 and 2. Part 3 details the aspirational future value of what the Cappasity Platform promises to deliver the 3D industry as a whole. I say aspirational as the building of value will be a continual cycle of development as more and more functionality is added into the ‘platform service’ by both Cappasity engineers and 3rd party contributors. The development roadmap and milestones are detailed in the Cappasity ‘Whitepaper’ and represents the growing, both horizontally and vertically, of the Cappasity platform. This detail includes a description of future development and although future looking, it is based on realistic and readily obtainable goals and milestones. Let’s begin!
What does ‘platform’ really mean?
The word ‘platform’ is arguably one of the most overused and misused terms in today’s almanac of IT and e-commerce terminology. Often, and erroneously, it is associated to be the sole remit of software developers and technology providers. The erroneous association of the word ‘Platform,’ as just belonging to software development may be due to the success of GitHub et al. in offering a well-conceived methodology for hosting and sharing ‘all things software development.’ Although Github is a great example of ‘Platform as a Service,’ the word ‘platform’ certainly has a wider meaning and more flexibility associated with it, than simply defined in a single user case.
Without argument, a platform, its purpose, functions and value embodies a collaboration of technologies used to enable value exchange (commerce) between operators in a marketplace operating under the influence of supply and demand. There also appears a great many willing to contribute the word ‘platform’ with all manifestations, types, iterations, forms, attributes and arguments for value creation. A platform, by virtue of what it does, its role, its functions, its interactions will bring inherent value to those who engage with it, otherwise it will fail as a platform. There appears a ‘genuine search for value’ in the word’s DNA however much of this value may be attributed to the successful interactive nature of the intent and execution of the business model supporting the business, upon which the platform supports.
We started with the Pipe
Pipes have existed as long as industry has produced goods and services to sell. Items are produced, typically along an assembly line process, where value is added in a linear form. When ready for sale the product is pushed out and joins a sales pipe where it is eventually consumed. Almost everything, from just a few short years ago, were the product of a pipeline. Our entertainment, via Television and Radio, were pipes delivering content to us over the airways. Service industries used pipe models with different payment and subscriptions plans. The ‘pipe for everything model’ carried over to the early days of Internet services where early Software as a Service (SaaS) companies used pipe channels to deliver SaaS via pay as you go or subscription planning. The World was full of pipes with, ‘not a platform in sight!’
The immergence of the Internet, through a process of speciation, enabled the platform business model. Unlike pipes the platform model is where contributors, participants, customers, creators, buyers and sellers come together to connect in the mutual exchange of value. At the technology layer, 3rd party developers are invited onto the platform and extend platform functionality using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). At the business level, value is exchanged as interaction between the participants of the platform. YouTube is representative of a platform model seeing content uploaded into the platform for platform participants to interact with. The pipe equivalent is a paid television station serving up content to their customers on a subscription or licence plan. Another example of a platform is Wikipedia where experts in any different fields of study, hobby or interest are invited to upload content. The pipe equivalent is an Encyclopaedia where customers purchase the book, via a single payment or a number of monthly payments to obtain the content.
Understanding a Platform model
In a business sense, a Platform is where contributors, participants, customers, creators, buyers and sellers come together to connect in the mutual exchange of value. The value will be described by the business model and will be representative of the ‘soul of the platform.’ The hosting of these interactions, representing exchanges of value within the platform, are the principle reason for the existence of the platform. Software as a service platforms, the likes of Cappasity, will be supportive of bidirectional interactions meaning participants will be both, pushed and pulled to the platform in their search for value and the exchange of same. To be successful the platform must intuitively and interactively match buyers with sellers, supply with demand.
The Cappasity platform, at the time of writing, is an unfinished ‘chef d’oeuvre.’ Part of the desirous effect of the ‘hangover’ of having a ‘utility token crowdsale event’ is the ability to raise the profile of the company together with raising development dollars which can be used to fast-track platform and ecosystem development to enable and ensure ‘road mapped’ development is completed in the shortest time possible. This contingency is an important consideration as ‘early starter’ advantages can be quickly eroded by large ‘organisational behemoths’ wanting to run the 3D industry like the well-known oligopoly, readily identifiable in today’s market.
Identifying the 3D industry’s ‘Elephant in the Room’
If the essence of real-estate value is “position, position, position” then perhaps the glaring omission or weakness around augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and the 3D industry generally, is the striking lack of content availability. Cappasity have identified this ‘white elephant’ and have designed an architecture, developed a system, and engineered a service where content, and how it is created, supported, managed, stored, commercialised, distributed and protected is at the essence of the platforms ‘beating heart.’ Cappasity believes content will be for AR/VR and 3D what location is for real-estate. Just how valuable can content be?
I remember Web 2.0, circa 2007, and importance of user generated content in building a number of organisational giants today. Facebook (FB), then in its infancy, touted itself a social networking meeting-place where ‘user generated content’ was uploaded against an account profile. This content was given away by the ‘content owners’ for free and enabled the building of an interactive story of ‘all of us.’ The more interactive the ‘content’ story became the greater the desire to contribute to it. I recall the Mobile Network Operator’s (MNO’s) frustration at being unable to charge FaceBook for leveraging their network connectivity to build the FaceBook value continuum. New interactive applications, like WhatsApp and Instagram, via user preference API access, broke the MNO’s strangle hold on the value of the mobile users contact list. Access to the mobile native contact list ensured a ‘virality’ of service uptake, seeing erosion of traditional MNO services revenues. A number of FaceBook or (FB) subsidiary application services competed directly with the MNO’s, who indirectly and under duress had to continue to support FaceBook. Not doing so meant commercial suicide. The strategy of ‘Content’ can be revolutionary in respect of disruption and redefining the services and market ecosystem.
The platform must be technology agnostic
It would be nice to leave the content story here but that would be premature. Different OEM’s see advantage in supporting different device or platform specific file types. This behaviour ensures files representing a type in a single domain are incompatible in type, structures and implementation seeing siloed file channels offering incompatible, unreadable and non-operational content. This occurrence is called fragmentation and is very common within the wider technology industry, the AR/VR and 3D industry being no different.
As a platform service provider content format must be agnostic of value assignment. This understanding, and the remedy for it is typical of the problems a platform provider meets each day as they build something agnostic to everything wanting to impose a tariff to create, engage, participate, share, swap, buy or sell. Cappasity is agnostic to all ‘barriers to service entry, participation and use’ and do so by offering a translation layer, where incompatible files are ‘cappasitised’ to ensure cross market ecosystem fertilisation.
Designing a new solutions paradigm — Building a Marketplace Ecosystem
Cappasity intends building a marketplace ecosystem premised on capturing the value of an increasing interest, creation and use of AR/VR and 3D content. Cappasity is a platform provider, offering value to supplies, customers, developers and others. The value, inherent in the creation, production, trade, sale and rent of the content is transferred around the ecosystem in the form of interactions. These interactions represent many different transaction types but illustrate the moving of value around the ecosystem as a heart may pump blood around the circulatory system of a human body. The collaborative nature of the architecture enables and encourages further collaboration (interactions) to the point where 3rd parties, customers, 3D developers, suppliers and stakeholders must interact with the ecosystem as it becomes a defining force in all things 3D and gets to a size and sophistication where it becomes authoritive around the domain of AR/VR and 3D where it defines a holistic synergy across the industry and ecosystem not matched for functionality, cost, or efficaciousness.
Introducing Cappasity Token, sole purpose Utility Token of Value. The token is an exclusive infrastructural element, increase of their fundamental value will directly depend on the popularity and growth of the Cappasity platform and the growing number of interactions (transactions) month on month. I don’t believe anyone is suggesting AR/VR and 3D isn’t going to revolutionize many, many connected services and the way we interact with that technology provider. The growth is coming, it is just a case of how much, how soon!
Cappasity has the plan. Cappasity has the Platform. Cappasity has the Team to capture the moment, with proper funding, develop the final piece of the puzzle, that is to say the building of a marketplace ecosystem where the BlockChain is leveraged to offer a trustless immutable record of Copyright provenance and commerce. The marketplace will be supported by the issuance of the utility token, which serves as a medium of exchange, a unit of account; a store of value; and a standard of deferred payment. These are all the traits you would expect from a credible digital currency in support immense potential value.
What does “The end” look like?
The success of Cappasity will come down to three things, (i) execution of the platform build, (ii) the health of the Platform Ecosystem economics, and (iii) the size of the addressable market. Progressive thinking and intuitive development will collaborate and bring together buyers and sellers to see ‘economies of scale’ realised within the provision of service, from within the platform. With a growing ‘relevant footprint, access to content through immutable marketplace economics it appears great opportunity awaits for the creation of new services and the creation of new value, not yet thought of today.
The aspirations of Cappasity are world changing. The size of the addressable market is breathtaking. I will leave this discussion with a final thought. I am unsure of the origins of the below, it is possibly apocryphal, notwithstanding I believe the message is complimentary to the challenge, reward and courage of the Cappasity Team.
Building a profitable small-market company is difficult and carries a high risk of failure. Building a profitable large-market company is also difficult and carries a high risk of failure. But the marginal risk in building a company decreases as the addressable market increases.
