Business models based on the compiled list at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4924647. I find the link very hard to browse, so I made a simple version in Markdown instead.
The list in monospaced `<pre>` code (with aligned columns) might be easier to read:
~~~mdown
Business Models
===============
Advertising
-----------
Display ads | Yahoo!
Search ads | Google
Text ads | Google
Video ads | Hulu, Twitch.tv
Audio ads | Pandora, Radio, Podcasts
Promoted content | Twitter, Tumblr
Paid-content links | Outbrain
Recruitment ads | LinkedIn
Lead generation | MoneySuperMarket, ZocDoc
Affiliate fees | The Wirecutter
Classifieds | Craigslist
Featured listings | Yelp, Super Pages;
E-mail ads | Yahoo, MSN
Ad-retargeting | Criteo
Real-time-intent ad delivery |
Location-based offers | Foursquare
Sponsorships/Site take-overs | Pandora
Lifetime, unique ad space | NSFWCORP Conflict Tower, milliondollarhomepage.com
Sponsorships | Twitch.tv users
Commerce
--------
Retailing | Zappos
Marketplace | Etsy
Crowd-sourced marketplace | Threadless
Excess-capacity markets | Uber, AirBnB
Vertically-integrated commerce | Warby Parker
Aggregator | Lastminute.com
Flash sales | Gilt Groupe, Vente Privee, Fab
Group buying | Groupon
Digital goods/downloads | iTunes
Virtual goods | Zynga
Training | Cloudera(?), -> Coursera
Pay what you want | Radiohead
Commission | SharesPost
Commission per order | Seamless, GrubHub
Auction | eBay
Reverse Auction | Priceline
Barter for services | SwapRight
Subscription
------------
Software as a Service (SaaS) | Salesforce
Service aaS | Shopify
Content aaS | Spotify, Netflix
Platform aaS (PaaS) | dotCloud, Heroku
Infrastructure aaS (IaaS) |
Freemium SaaS | Dropbox
Ethical premium | Proposed by Clayton Cubitt
Donations | Wikipedia
Recurring donations (w/ rewards) | Patreon
Sampling | Birchbox, BarkBox
Membership services | Amazon Prime
Support and maintenance | 10gen, Red Hat, Cloud66
Paywall | New York Times, Andrew Sullivan
Strict Paywall | The Information
Porous Paywall | NSFWCORP
Voice and video conferencing | Uberconference
Newsletter | Ricardo Bueno
Fremium video subscription | Twitch.tv, YouTube
Peer to Peer (P2P)
------------------
P2P lending | Lending Club
P2P gambling | BetFair
P2P buying | Etsy
P2P insurance |
P2P computing | CrasPlan storage, SETI@home
P2P service | Mechanical Turk, TaskRabbit
P2P mobile WiFi/tethering |
Transaction-Processing
----------------------
Merchant acquiring | PayPal (On-/Offline), Stripe (OnL), Square (OffL)
Intermediary | IP Commerce (POS 2.0), CardSpring
Acquiring processing | Paymentech
Bank transfer | Dwolla
Bank depository offering | Simple, Movenbank (spread on average deposits)
Bank card issuance | Simple (interchange fee per transaction)
Fullfilment | Amazon
Messaging | Peer-to-Peer SMS, IM, Group Messaging
Telephony (public networks) | Skype out/in
Telephony (private cloud) | Native Skype
Mobile payment gateway | Braintree
Platform monetization (“tax”) | Facebook Credits, iOS 30/70 cut
Licensing
---------
Per seat | Sencha
Per device/server | QlikView
Per application instance | Adobe Photoshop
Per site | Private cloud on internal infrastructure
Patent | Qualcomm
Brand | Sesame Street
Indirect | Apple Volume Purchasing
Data
----
User data | BlueKai
Business data | Duedil
User intelligence | YouGov
Search Data | Chango
Real-time consumer intent data | Yieldbot
Benchmarking services | Comscore
Market research | GLG
Mobile
------
Paid-app downloads | WhatsApp
In-app purchases | Zynga Poker
In-app subscriptions | New York Times app
Advertising | Flurry, AdMob
Digital-to-physical | Red Stamp, Postagram
Gaming
------
Freemium (virtual currency) | Zynga
Subscription | World of Warcraft
Premium | Xbox games
DLC (downloadable content) | Call of Duty
Ads | addictinggames.com
Open Source (FOSS)
------------------
Consulting | Red Hat, Nginx, Revsys
Support |
Hosting/Infrastructure | WordPress
Free for some, but not for others |
Ads | Mozilla
Bundled features (e.g. search) | Mozilla, Opera
~~~
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Display ads | Yahoo! |
Search ads | |
Text ads | |
Video ads | Hulu, Twitch.tv |
Audio ads | Pandora, Radio, Podcasts |
Promoted content | Twitter, Tumblr |
Paid-content links | Outbrain |
Recruitment ads | |
Lead generation | MoneySuperMarket, ZocDoc |
Affiliate fees | The Wirecutter |
Classifieds | Craigslist |
Featured listings | Yelp, Super Pages; |
E-mail ads | Yahoo, MSN |
Ad-retargeting | Criteo |
Real-time-intent ad delivery | |
Location-based offers | Foursquare |
Sponsorships/Site take-overs | Pandora |
Lifetime, unique ad space | NSFWCORP Conflict Tower, milliondollarhomepage.com |
Sponsorships | Twitch.tv users |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Retailing | Zappos |
Marketplace | Etsy |
Crowd-sourced marketplace | Threadless |
Excess-capacity markets | Uber, AirBnB |
Vertically-integrated commerce | Warby Parker |
Aggregator | Lastminute.com |
Flash sales | Gilt Groupe, Vente Privee, Fab |
Group buying | Groupon |
Digital goods/downloads | iTunes |
Virtual goods | Zynga |
Training | Cloudera(?), -> Coursera |
Pay what you want | Radiohead |
Commission | SharesPost |
Commission per order | Seamless, GrubHub |
Auction | eBay |
Reverse Auction | Priceline |
Barter for services | SwapRight |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Software as a Service (SaaS) | Salesforce |
Service aaS | Shopify |
Content aaS | Spotify, Netflix |
Platform aaS (PaaS) | dotCloud, Heroku |
Infrastructure aaS (IaaS) | |
Freemium SaaS | Dropbox |
Ethical premium | Proposed by Clayton Cubitt |
Donations | Wikipedia |
Recurring donations (w/ rewards) | Patreon |
Sampling | Birchbox, BarkBox (sic) |
Membership services | Amazon Prime |
Support and maintenance | 10gen, Red Hat, Cloud66 |
Paywall | New York Times, Andrew Sullivan |
Strict Paywall | The Information |
Porous Paywall | NSFWCORP |
Voice and video conferencing | Uberconference |
Newsletter | Ricardo Bueno |
Fremium video subscription | Twitch.tv, YouTube |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
P2P lending | Lending Club |
P2P gambling | BetFair |
P2P buying | Etsy |
P2P insurance | |
P2P computing | CrasPlan storage, SETI@home |
P2P service | Mechanical Turk, TaskRabbit |
P2P mobile WiFi/tethering |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Merchant acquiring | PayPal (On-/Offline), Stripe (OnL), Square (OffL) |
Intermediary | IP Commerce (POS 2.0), CardSpring |
Acquiring processing | Paymentech |
Bank transfer | Dwolla |
Bank depository offering | Simple, Movenbank (spread on average deposits) |
Bank card issuance | Simple (interchange fee per transaction) |
Fullfilment | Amazon |
Messaging | Peer-to-Peer SMS, IM, Group Messaging |
Telephony (public networks) | Skype out/in |
Telephony (private cloud) | Native Skype |
Mobile payment gateway | Braintree |
Platform monetization (“tax”) | Facebook Credits, iOS 30/70 cut |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Per seat | Sencha |
Per device/server | QlikView |
Per application instance | Adobe Photoshop |
Per site | Private cloud on internal infrastructure |
Patent | Qualcomm |
Brand | Sesame Street |
Indirect | Apple Volume Purchasing |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
User data | BlueKai |
Business data | Duedil |
User intelligence | YouGov |
Search Data | Chango |
Real-time consumer intent data | Yieldbot |
Benchmarking services | Comscore |
Market research | GLG |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Paid-app downloads | |
In-app purchases | Zynga Poker |
In-app subscriptions | New York Times app |
Advertising | Flurry, AdMob |
Digital-to-physical | Red Stamp, Postagram |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Freemium (virtual currency) | Zynga |
Subscription | World of Warcraft |
Premium | Xbox games |
DLC (downloadable content) | Call of Duty |
Ads | addictinggames.com |
Models | Examples |
---|---|
Consulting | Red Hat, Nginx, Revsys |
Support | |
Hosting/Infrastructure | WordPress |
Free for some, but not for others | |
Ads | Mozilla |
Bundled features (e.g. search) | Mozilla, Opera |