Airport Revenue Model

The "Airport Business Model" refers to leveraging a captured audience to sell multiple products/services once you have their attention. This concept can be applied to various business contexts.

Core Concept

• Once you have users in your ecosystem, you can sell them multiple related products
• Similar to how airports capture travelers and then sell food, retail, services
• Works particularly well with passionate, engaged audiences

Key Elements for Success

• Build a rabid, passionate following first
• Focus on community before monetization
• Grow slowly to maintain authenticity
• Create strong moats through community loyalty
• Don't try to scale too quickly - can dilute core audience

Real World Examples

Rebrickable (Lego Community)

• Started as engineering project for Lego enthusiasts
• Grew to 11M users by 2023
• Features:
  • Users upload custom Lego creation instructions
  • Algorithm matches available Lego pieces to possible builds
  • Marketplace for selling custom instructions
  • 160M annual page views
  • ~$5M estimated revenue from instruction sales

Characteristics of Successful "Airport Businesses"

• Often start as "silly" or niche ideas
• Build passionate communities first
• Create multiple revenue streams over time
• Hard to replicate due to community moats
• Communities are temperamental - need careful stewardship
• Focus on authentic growth over rapid scaling

Warning Signs

• Growing too fast can alienate core audience
• Over-commercialization can damage authenticity
• Need to balance growth with community values
• Communities will revolt if changes are too aggressive
• Must act as steward rather than dictator

Success Metrics

• Engaged user base
• Strong community participation
• Multiple revenue streams
• High user retention
• Organic growth through word of mouth
• Difficulty for competitors to replicate

The key is building an engaged audience first, then thoughtfully expanding offerings while maintaining authenticity and community trust.