69 IT Business Models

With increasing competition, the diversity of business models of technology start-ups also increases, which we have tried to classify. We have adapted the original selection of examples, which you can add by adding your own options to the comments.

1. Advertising

• Yahoo: Banner ads;
• Yandex: Search advertising;
• Yandex: Text advertising;
• Twitch.tv: Video advertising;
• 5by5.tv: Audio advertising;
• Twitter: Content advertising;
• Outbrain: Recommendation references;
• LinkedIn: Advertising vacancies;
• ZocDoc: Formation of customer flow;
• TheWirecutter: Affiliate Programs;
• Craigslist: Ad Placement;
• Yelp: Brand Advertising;
• Yahoo: Email advertising;
• Criteo: Recommendations and retargeting;
• Foursquare: Advertise by location;
• MillionDollarHomepage: Unique (long-term) advertising projects.

2. eCommerce

• Zappos: Classic retail;
• Etsy: Marketplace;
• Threadless: Marketplace + crowdsourcing;
• Airbnb: Niche with excess supply (+ Uber:) ;
• Warbyparker: Vertically integrated eCommerce;
• Lastminute.com: Share Aggregator;
• Gilt Groupe: A selection of "offers of the day";
• Groupon: Collective shopping;
• iTunes: Digital merchandise (downloadable);
• Zynga: Virtual goods (in-app);
• Coursera: Education;
• Sharespost: Commission for conducting transactions;
• GrubHub: Commission for each order;
• eBay: auction model;
• Priceline: Reverse auction;
• SwapRight: Barter Exchange.

3. Periodic

• StartupStack: Software on Demand (SaaS);
• Shopify: On-demand service (Service aaS);
• Netflix: Content on Demand (Content aaS);
• Heroku: Platform on Demand (Platform aaS);
• Amazon Web Services: On-Demand Infrastructure (Infrastructure aaS);
• Dropbox: SaaS Free;
• Wikipedia: Content for voluntary donations;
• Patreon: Periodic donations for rewards;
• BarkBox: Regular product selections;
• Amazon Prime: Special conditions for regular customers;
• Cloud66: On-demand technical support;
• The Information: Paid access to the full version of the content;
• Ricardo Bueno: Paid access to the mailing list.

4. Peer to Peer ( P2P )

• Lending Club: P2P crediting;
• Etsy: P2P purchases;
• Mechanical Turk: P2P service.

5. Transactions

• PayPal: Trade Acquiring;
• CardSpring: API and development platform;
• Paymentech: Acquiring processing;
• Dwolla: Bank transfers;
• Movenbank: Operations Tracking and Cost / Revenue Benchmarking;
• Simple: Issue of bank cards and tracking expenses / incomes;
• Amazon: Fulfillment.

6. Data

• BlueKai: Working with user data (B2C);
• Duedil: Work with business data (B2B);
• YouGov: Custom research;
• Chango: Platform based on a recommendation system;
• Comscore: Benchmarking;
• GLG: Market Research.

7. Mobile devices

• WhatsApp: Application fee;
• Zynga Poker: In-app purchases (in-app);
• NYTimes: Content in a subscription application;
• Flurry: Mobile advertising;
• Postagram: Making physical products from digital.

8. Open Source

• Revsys: Consulting;
• Automattic: Software solutions and hosting;
• Ruby on Rails: Development Environment.

This classification can not be considered complete and exhaustively illustrative, but it can serve as a good basis for your additions and discussion of the effectiveness of business models of technological startups.
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In the light of this selection of business models, we advise you to pay attention to our series of publications comparing approaches to work on technology start-ups in Russia and the United States:

• Startups: List of all projects of DIDF ;
• What startups are needed: List of directions for development;
• Popular startup: Practical recipes;
• Work in a startup: Ideas, routine and responsibility;
• Investments for a startup: Point of view of the investor;
• On the benefits of a “lean” approach to creating companies;
• About the reasons for the success and failure of startups;