A CATEGORY UNTO ITSELF

Industry commentators like to say that “companies like Google” are all moving in a certain direction, or that certain qualities characterize “platforms like Facebook.” Many of these would-be exemplars, however, are notable precisely because they are one of a kind. Reflecting the winner-take-all network principle, each of these giants has grown to practically coincide with the entire category to which it belongs.

Uber’s expansion toward food delivery through its UberEATS service has shown how network effects take a company beyond its initial niche to realize the complete logic of an industry. If a rival were to pitch itself as “the Uber of flower delivery,” it would be setting itself up for failure just as a “Facebook for high school students” would have in 2006.