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Chapter 23 — Reviving iRobot: Build a Marketplace

A Platform Playbook for Struggling Hardware Companies

Strategic turnaround vision: how struggling hardware companies can reinvent themselves through platform thinking, ecosystem development, and marketplace business models

iRobot stock chart, February–March 2025 — a hardware company at a strategic crossroads

iRobot, the pioneer of robotic mopping, faces financial struggles due to competition and a failed acquisition by Amazon. Building a marketplace around its control app, iRobot-Home, could offer a way out by providing home maintenance services and generating additional revenue streams.

At its peak, iRobot stood as the undisputed global leader in consumer robotics – the category pioneer, the technological benchmark, and the brand that defined what a robotic vacuum was supposed to be.

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