The final force I’ll discuss is the Economic network effect, which is how a business model—including profitability and unit economics—improves over time as a network grows. This is sometimes driven by what are called data network effects—the ability to better understand the value and costs of a customer as a network gets larger.

Networked products are fundamentally different from the typical product experience—they facilitate experiences that users have with each other, whereas traditional products emphasize how users interact with the software itself. They grow and succeed by adding more users, which create network effects, whereas traditional products grow by building be