Dive into the world of Roblox platform-building with Manuel Bronstein, Chief Product Officer. Learn about the importance of systems thinking and open design philosophy. Explore the challenges and unique principles of building a platform that caters to diverse user needs and allows for future expansion.
Building platforms requires a different ethos that embraces bottom-up creation and diverse user needs.
Start platform-building with a systemic vision considering current and future user requirements.
Be intentionally open in platform development, focusing on inclusivity and growth while prioritizing user experience.
Deep dives
Evolution of Social Gaming and Roblox's Impact
Social gaming has evolved from solitary experiences to highly social interactions, marked by the rise of platforms like Roblox. Roblox, established in 2006, has redefined the gaming industry through user-generated content and virtual universes. Despite its association with kids, its user base spans multiple generations, highlighting its role as a metaverse pioneer.
Manuel Bernstein's Career Journey and Product Philosophy
Manuel Bernstein's career path into product development was unconventional, transitioning from electrical engineering to marketing at Procter & Gamble. His experience in Xbox, Zynga, and YouTube shaped his product-building philosophy, emphasizing user-generated content and platform innovation. Bernstein's journey underscores the importance of diverse experiences in fostering successful platforms and products.
Vision for the Future of Roblox and the Metaverse
Roblox's mission to reimagine social interactions in an augmented reality setting drives its vision for the future. The platform aims to facilitate shared experiences and creative empowerment through immersive 3D environments. By focusing on ease of creation and expanding shared virtual spaces, Roblox seeks to revolutionize various online activities like shopping, events, and more.
Culture of Innovation and Building an Open Platform
Roblox cultivates a culture of innovation by emphasizing intuition, pattern matching, and forward-looking decisions. The platform's commitment to openness and community integrity underpins its growth strategy. Balancing freedom with safety and civility, Roblox encourages diverse user participation while maintaining inclusivity and consistent product principles.
Scaling Strategies and Consistency in Platform Development
In scaling Roblox, Manuel Bernstein emphasizes aligning teams with the company's vision and values. Rituals like quarterly reviews and consistent communication establish clarity and unity across the organization. Roblox's approach to feature releases prioritizes accessibility to all users from the outset, fostering a level playing field and promoting democratic innovation.
First launched in 2006, Roblox has become one of the most prominent user-generated gaming platforms - it’s also one of the closest things we have today to a metaverse. Much of that success comes down to platform-design. In this episode, we dive into the nuances of building platforms with Roblox’s Chief Product Officer, Manuel Bronstein. Manuel is a distinguished consumer product builder, with a wealth of experience beyond Roblox, having worked on such platforms as XBox, Xynga, Youtube, and more. In this episode, we get into the systems thinking that is critical for such work. Just as important, Manuel shares with us his vision for developing in the spirit of Roblox being an open and accessible platform for all users.
Building platforms is inherently different: The old ethos that “if you try to serve everyone you serve no-one” doesn’t quite fit. A platform has to allow for all sorts of unanticipated bottom-up creation and requires a different building philosophy than other products.
Think systemically: When building a platform, you should start with a vision and plan that considers both the current needs of your user as well as future expansion. You need to have a vision that goes beyond thinking about first derivatives and all the way to secondary derivatives and downstream applications.
Be intentional about being open: Roblox prides itself on remaining an open platform, and brings a lot of intention to that ethos - even when they take things to market, every feature on Roblox is design to accessible to all users from day one.
Listen and find out why building for platforms is different from building for any other product.
