Recently, 10X has been clearly communicating — internally and externally — that we're aiming to turn Stailer into a platform. But in the past, we also described Stailer as a "Whole Product."

Neither "platform" nor "Whole Product" is a particularly common term in the software development world.

Are these two concepts contradictory? Opposed? Compatible? To sort this out and communicate it clearly, I wrote this post. Let's start by revisiting what each term actually means.

What Is a "Platform"?

The word "platform" in software is used so widely — and with such different meanings depending on context — that it's nearly impossible to pin down a single definition. Three articles I pulled up in three minutes illustrated just how differently the term gets used across companies.

At 10X, we've taken the approach of explicitly defining what we mean by "platform" for both internal and external communication. (See the linked article for details.)

Why Stailer Is a Platform

What Is a "Whole Product"?

"Whole Product" is a term that's unfamiliar to most people — not because the concept is wrong, but because it isn't widely used. However, it comes from a clear source: Theodore Levitt's book Marketing (マーケティング論 in Japanese). A blog post by Sasaguchi-san does an excellent job of explaining the concept, which I recommend reading.

Levitt defines the Whole Product across four stages. Starting from the Generic Product (the core offering), each stage adds features, services, and augmentation that more completely fulfill customer expectations — ultimately reaching the Potential Product.

For Stailer:

• The Generic Product is "enabling a partner to run a net supermarket"
• The Expected Product includes things like "being able to connect to diverse external systems"
• The Augmented Product includes value-adds like trade area analysis services
• The Potential Product encompasses the full roadmap of features and non-functional capabilities needed to maximize customer value — including support for building back-office operations, warehouse design, and the integrations that make it all work

Achieving all of this is the ideal Stailer aspires to.

In short, Stailer aims to provide customers with more complete value through both product and complementary services — so Stailer is a Whole Product.

In Other Words, the Two Concepts Are Parallel

Both terms are difficult to generalize and easy to misuse. But specifically for 10X and Stailer, these two concepts describe entirely different things — and they can absolutely coexist.

Concept	What it answers
Platform	Who controls the user experience, and through what structure?
Whole Product	How complete is the value delivered to the customer?

When you hear either of these terms from a 10X team member, I hope the table above helps you orient quickly.

10X is a platform — and it's building a Whole Product. Let's go earn the right to say that with our heads held high, today and every day.

10X Careers