Phil Simon Video Interview – The Age of the Platform (and How to Crowdsource a Book)

Recently I had the pleasure of having a video chat on Skype with my friend Phil Simon about his upcoming book The Age of the Platform. In it he explores how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are using the “platform” as a new business model. He explains how they are embracing partnerships, third parties, communities, and ecosystems in very interesting and different ways.

After talking with Phil about the book it sounds fascinating and it’s obvious he is passionate about the topic. I can’t wait to read it!

What’s really interesting is the way he’s publishing the book. Rather than go the traditional publishing route his is going it on his own (with his own publishing company he started when writing his last book The New Small).

In the video interview below we talk about the book and how he’s using crowdsourcing and Kickstarter.com to fund this project. You can also win a free signed copy of the book – just read on below:

Here are a few links to info we mention in this video: Phil talks about a Korean Movie Director who shot an entire movie on his iPhone. He also mentions the Nano Watch as one of the most successful Kickstarter projects ever.

If you haven’t heard about Kickstarter it is a funding platform focused on a broad spectrum of creative projects. Through it you can offer rewards such as copies of the work, limited editions, fun experiences in exchange for different amounts of money that people donate to fund or back a project.

If you are an aspiring author, or have any great idea for a project but need funding for it you’ll be very interested to hear Phil talk about Kickstarter in this video.

This is how Phil brought his last book The New Small to life and he’s doing it again with The Age of the Platform. I was happy to back him on this project as I think he has a great angle for exploring the success of these 4 successful companies and the lessons that small businesses can take from their strategy.

You can help fund The Age of the Platform through Kickstarter

Please visit http://kck.st/philsimon and help fund the book. Phil is offering some great rewards such as your name in the acknowledgements, signed copies, Kindle copies, all the way up to speaking at your company and proving 100 copies of the book! I hope you will join me as we all the get the joy of not only reading it but knowing we took part in making it happen!

Our Contest

To help spread the word we’re running a contest and giving away a signed copies of the book! Just CLICK HERE to tweet about this video (make sure it includes the hashtag #fundphil and you’ll be eligible to win a signed copy when the book is released! I’ll pick a winner at random from those that use the hashtag to spread the word on twitter. Just click this link and the tweet and hashtag will already be in place for you.

Have questions for Phil about The Age of the Platform, about self publishing a book, or about Kickstarter? Ask away in the comments below!