Around ten years ago a network revolution changed many business models fundamentally leading to the rise of platforms and API economy. Companies started generating value by creating relational links between different players in the market.

As a result, well-established companies nowadays face powerful and economically strong digital competitors. These platform competitors are often able to dominate a market within short time and cause massive disruption for existing businesses. That is why, in this paper we want to have a look on how platforms work and what differentiates them from traditional companies that produce and sell products or services. We want to examine how they can cause massive disruption in the markets they enter and what are the factors that make them so successful. We want to conclude by looking at the developments that can be expected in the future.