{"id":261,"date":"2017-01-17T05:35:03","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T05:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/?p=261"},"modified":"2017-01-17T05:35:03","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T05:35:03","slug":"building-marketplace-platforms-where-to-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/startup\/building-marketplace-platforms-where-to-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Marketplace Platforms: Where to Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why build a platform?\u00a0 That’s a question we wrestled with at Jumo when deciding between building a marketplace platform or continuing our successful mobile credit business. \u00a0We chose to go platform because we believe it allows for better choices for the consumer. \u00a0The consumer gets a wider range of products, for better prices, at anytime. \u00a0But we didn’t know that much about the supply side. We thought we could convince several supply side businesses to plug in. \u00a0The actual result is far more successful, and that was a crucial lesson early on for us. \u00a0We built the demand side of the equation, but still didn’t entirely believe supply would come through. \u00a0It did, and in abundance. \u00a0The platform equation is like an algebra problem where you need to solve for two variables. \u00a0You cannot solve for both with a single equation, you need two separate linear equations. \u00a0And only then, after you solve for one, can you solve for the other. \u00a0So what are the different ways you solve for one side? \u00a0A platform on its own has no intrinsic value.<\/p>\n

In Sangeet Choudary’s Book Platform Scale<\/a>\u00a0he writes that main ways to build out a platform are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Finding a compelling bait to start the loop<\/li>\n
  2. Ensuring there is no friction in the feedback loop<\/li>\n
  3. Minimizing the time it takes the company to reach critical mass<\/li>\n
  4. Incentivizing the role that is more difficult to attract<\/li>\n
  5. Staging the creation of the two-sided marketplace<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    At Jumo, we mostly followed the fifth strategy. \u00a0We created one side of the marketplace, and then opened it up the other side. \u00a0This worked extremely well for us. \u00a0Facebook, on the other hand, built their platform using the first strategy. \u00a0Their bait was allowing college students to meet other college students. \u00a0That was perfect for the millions of students arriving at college, or already there, wanting to be friends. \u00a0It’s important to note that platforms don’t need follow just one strategy. \u00a0Most successful platforms follow a couple, and try whatever they can to acquire consumers on each side. \u00a0Do whatever you can to win the game. \u00a0Platforms become massively valuable, and\u00a0that’s a nice benefit of solving problems for consumers.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why build a platform?\u00a0 That’s a question we wrestled with at Jumo when deciding between building a marketplace platform or continuing our successful mobile credit business. \u00a0We chose to go platform because we believe it allows for better choices for the consumer. \u00a0The consumer gets a wider range of products, for better prices, at anytime. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-startup"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}