There are some giant companies that have mastered the double-sided marketplace, including Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Alibaba, Postmates - and many more - with what appears to be seamless effort. Interestingly enough, what makes a double-sided marketplace great are also the same reasons that make a double-sided marketplace difficult.
I personally know how difficult it is to build a double-sided marketplace, so how did they do it? I am about to launch an app, Dwelling, "the hinge of subleasing", and I decided to share the most valuable information I have learned here.
Using Dwelling as an example - so how do you get someone to list their properties on an app that is unknown, with no users? After studying the companies listed above, the below is what is proven to have worked:
1) The best way to get big is to start small. Each one of these companies constrained their marketplace when starting out. This allowed them to control supply and demand.
2) All that matters is supply. With exception of a few companies, the goal is always to start with the supply side. These companies found that their supply was either driving its own demand, or word-of-mouth was strong enough to take care of demand.
3) Supply growth is all sales. Sales sales sales. This includes: Direct Sales, Piggy Backing on Other Companies, Referrals, Word of Mouth, Employees Are Early Users, Events, Loops, SEO & Community.
4) Supply-demand from solving a problem. Once your supply side is built, the only way to get people onto a platform is to offer a solution to a problem.
Thank you for reading & stay tuned for more updates on information learned from building and launching an app.
By: Jessica Rosner
www.dwelling.technology
No comments:
Post a Comment