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MenuAre there marketplace experts for mentoring here on clarity.fm?
Mentoring will be conducted through clarity.fm scheduled paid consultation. Expert must have built a marketplace or have full knowledge of how etsy, houzz, zillow, trulia, pinterest system or ebay works.
Answers
Clarity has dozen's of experts in this area - some are list here:
https://clarity.fm/browse/industries/marketplaces
and here:
https://clarity.fm/topics/marketplaces-10183
https://clarity.fm/topics/online-marketplace-12395
My favorites are
- Micha Kaufman (Founder/CEO @ Fiverr.com) https://clarity.fm/micha
- John Ramey (Founder/CEO of isocket.com) https://clarity.fm/johnramey
- Josh Brelinger (VC, previously #5 @ oDesk.com) https://clarity.fm/jbreinlinger
- Dinesh Thiru (VP of Marketing @ Udemy.com) https://clarity.fm/dinesht
- Fergus Dyer-Smith (Founder/CEO @ Wooshii.com https://clarity.fm/fergusdyer-smith
+ many more.
I may be able to help from my experience founding and building Skillshare, as well as researching marketplaces in general during that time. What specific questions do you have?
Feel free to ping me to setup a call.
Generally, I'd encourage you to check out the Search feature here on Clarity that has a number of featured experts that list where they feel most able to be of help. Check out their reviews and the answers they have submitted to get a good idea of their potential fit with you. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Dan Martell - Founder of Clarity
https://clarity.fm/danmartell
Boris Wertz - Cofounder of AbeBooks which sold to Amazon and an investor in many marketplace companies:
https://clarity.fm/boriswertz
And Elan Mosbacher (I don't know him but his profile looks good) https://clarity.fm/elanmosbacher
Let me know If I can help you. I am working with Yo!Kart online marketplace platform where we help global business owners to launch their own eBay, Etsy, Amazon, or other such marketplaces. I can help you to guide on these topics:
Future of online marketplaces
Different Business models
What are popular revenue channels in an online marketplace
What are the must-have features and functionalities?
How to start with pro active and pre active marketing
Feel free to ping me.
Thank You
Related Questions
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When recording income for a marketplace startup, is it typical to use the gross transaction or just the fees collected per payment?
You usually only recognize the commissions as revenues and use the term "Gross Merchandise Value" (GMV) to describe the size of the marketplace (value of all transactions going through the site)Boris WertzBW
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What is the best pricing (business model) to apply to a marketplace?
I like to separate your question into 2 sub-questions: #1 How do we determine which side to charge? #2 How much is the right amount to charge? On #1, my answer is that you can charge the side(s) for whom you add the most value. In your examples, Uber really solves a big problem for drivers, it's that they sit idle for a good part of the day, so are willing to pay a lot for new leads. (their alternative is no work) Consumers are charged more for the convenience of a private car but they are probably not so much willing to pay more for a taxi, even if they can hail one from their phones. For AirBnB, it's a mix, it's a way for landlords to monetize idle capacity which they are willing to pay for, but it's also a way for a renter to pay less than they would normally pay for a hotel. On #2 (how much), I like to triangulate a number of factors: - What's the maximum amount I can charge one side, while still being a good deal for them. - How much do I need to charge so that I can become profitable? (the economics are quite different if you charge 3% vs. 12%) - What are comparable services charging for substitutes/competitive offerings? I will just add that there is no formulaic way to determine pricing strategies (curated vs. open), and it's a lot more about what's the comparable and what the value delivered is. That's how I approached the question while deciding the business model at ProBueno.com (my startup)Michel RbeizMR
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Broad niche or Targeted niche which way to go?
I always suggest going "uncomfortably narrow" initially so that you can really dial in the user experience and build liquidity first. Going broad will be tougher as there's too much noise to signal. Also, it's best to fake the supply side initially of you can to improve the buyers side first, then figure out supply & quality afterwards if customers are buying and you've proven out a demand strategy that will work.Dan MartellDM
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Holding funds in a 2-sided marketplace?
Check out https://www.balancedpayments.com/ They are made for marketplaces. Airbnb CEO among others invested in them and they have some of the best pricing/payout fees. Also some good info on http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/2013/10/08/online-marketplaces-are-hard/ One of Balanced Payments co-founders is writing this blog series on marketplaces.Mikeal AbramoffMA
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When creating a marketplace, does it make more sense to focus on stimulating demand first or supply?
Focus on the more difficult side of the marketplace. For instance, if you think it'll be easier to get suppliers, then focus first on getting buyers - always be working on your toughest problem (aka your biggest risk). You'll find some great blogging on Marketplace and Platform topics here http://platformed.info (read the ebook too!)Cooper MarcusCM
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