THE AFTERMARKET PREMIUM

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

The aftermarket can become a major source of value around durable products and platforms, so platform owners must decide whether to coexist, fight, license, or buy the businesses that emerge around them. AMG shows how licensing and acquisition can bring a successful modifier inside the brand, while Rolex's service restrictions show that fighting can leave substantial margin and customer demand to independent players. In software, platform owners control whether an aftermarket can legally form through decisions about open source, licensing, and developer tools, which helped create businesses like Counter Strike, Red Hat, and Cursor.