Growth Strategy of Unicorn Start-ups in Platform Business: The case of Yanolja in the Accommodation Platforms

With the recent decline in the emergence of new unicorns in Korea, there is a greater need to study the growth strategies of startups in the pre- and post-unicorn stages. Based on the purposive sampling and data triangulation methods, we conduct an exploratory case study on Yanolja, a unicorn in the accommodation platform market. We found that Yanolja dominates the domestic market and expands its performance in the global market through the creation of extensive within and cross-country network effects, aggressive complementary platform envelopment, and the data solution strategy to enhance the value of accommodation suppliers. We establish a theoretical foundation for a comprehensive understanding of the growth strategies of unicorns, drawing on the theory of business platforms. We also offer empirical evidence on the accommodation platform business and contribute to the validation and analytical generalization of a theory of business platforms.