Tips on starting your marketplace
Begin your journey as a marketplace entrepreneur! Here are our best picks to help you fine-tune your marketplace idea, validate your concept, and get your platform off the ground fast.
What makes a great marketplace idea
Everything starts with an idea. These articles get to the bottom of the anatomy of great marketplace ideas. You’ll learn how to look at the world through the eyes of a marketplace entrepreneur and spot opportunities everywhere. They’ll also give you the basics on how to monetize your marketplace idea.
What you need to know to plan your marketplace business
An introduction to online marketplaces. What they are, why they are booming, and why you should build one.
How to find great online marketplace ideas
How to spot marketplace opportunities and transform them into great business ideas.
The marketplace business model guide
Learn how the marketplace model works and brings benefits to all parties involved: the sellers, the buyers, and the marketplace owner.
Preparing your business for take-off
You can start working on your marketplace before you have a single line of code written for your website. Take the time to prevalidate your idea, define your budget, and find the smartest way to spend your time and money. Validating your idea will give you lots of new insights that you can take with you to building your MVP.
How to raise funding for a Sharetribe-powered marketplace
Lessons from 30+ Sharetribe-powered marketplaces that have raised a total of $66M in venture funding.
Problem-solution fit for marketplaces
Problem-solution fit is a sign your product is solving a real problem for users. Here’s how to identify if you’ve reached it—and what to do if you find out you haven’t.
How much does it cost to build a marketplace business?
Example of a first year’s marketplace startup budget, and how to spend it wisely.
How to validate your marketplace idea before building the platform
Don’t build a desert platform. Here are the steps to take to prevalidate your marketplace idea.
Find the fastest way to market
Don’t build a desert platform. A common mistake of early-stage marketplace founders is spending too much time and money building their first version. Instead, our advice is to define the minimum set of features you’ll need to wow your first users, and launch as fast as possible. These articles are all about helping you find the fastest and most affordable way to market.
Product-market fit for marketplaces
Product-market fit is a critical stage that shows your marketplace can be profitable. Here's how you can reach it with your marketplace.
The 5 questions to ask when choosing marketplace software
There are dozens of marketplace software solutions to choose from. These five questions make the right choice for your marketplace idea.
Your marketplace MVP – How to build a Minimum Viable Platform
What you should focus on when you’re creating the first version of your marketplace platform.
Why you should launch your marketplace early
‘Time is money’, and other teachings to inspire you to take the plunge and launch your marketplace as soon as you can.
More on starting a marketplace
More inspiration for the beginning of your journey as a marketplace entrepreneur.
Marketplace mobile app: why, when, and how to build one
Learn if building a mobile app is the right call for your marketplace, when is the best time to make the investment, and what options you have for your tech stack.
Mollie marketplace payments – overview of key features
Are you considering using Mollie to process payments on your marketplace? Here's an overview of its features, pricing, and support so you can weigh it against other options.
The 8 most common attacks on marketplaces, and how to defend against them
Online marketplaces are prime targets for attacks. Here's what you should know about defending your marketplace against the most common risks.
10 principles for a strong marketplace strategy
Learn the principles behind a strong marketplace strategy… and the pitfalls they'll will help you avoid.
Fondy marketplace payments: overview of key features
Are you considering Fondy to power your marketplace payments? Here's our thorough overview on its key features, pricing, and more.
Trustap marketplace payments–overview of key features
Is Trustap the right marketplace payment partner for you? Here's an overview of Trustap's key features, pricing, support, and more.
Ryft marketplace payments—overview of key features
Are you considering Ryft to power your marketplace payments? Here's a detailed overview of Ryft's pricing, key features, and more.
Mangopay marketplace payments – overview of key features
Are you considering Mangopay to power your marketplace payments? Here's a detailed overview of Mangopay’s marketplace payment features.
Adyen marketplace payments – overview of key features
Should you choose Adyen for your marketplace payments? Read this article to know Adyen's features, fees, supported currencies and countries, tax handling, & more.
PayPal marketplace payments – overview of PayPal for Marketplaces key features
PayPal for Marketplaces is a widely used marketplace payment provider. Explore its features, fees, available countries, currencies, payouts, and more.
Stripe marketplace payments – overview of Stripe Connect key features
Stripe Connect key features, fees, security compliance, integration and more.
Marketplace payments: The complete guide
Marketplace payments are very complex. This guide helps you list your feature requirements and compare and choose the best marketplace payment provider for you. (Yes, there's a comparison table!)
Marketplace businesses that thrive in a recession
A recession is a challenge for any business. But a downturn can also offer tremendous opportunities for marketplaces
How I built a bootstrap marketplace
Mike Williams discussed building and scaling Studiotime all without external funding. Before Mike sold the business, Studiotime was the largest online marketplace for booking music studios.
Competing with marketplace giants — An interview with Connor Gillivan
How can a marketplace startup compete with platform giants? Connor Gillivan, co-founder and CMO of the freelance marketplace FreeeUp, shares their story.
Validate your marketplace as you go
Stasher co-founder and CCO Anthony Collias reveals how Stasher validated their business idea, built their tech, found partners and funders, and expanded the marketplace to three continents.
The Lean Marketplace - out now!
Sharetribe's new book, The Lean Marketplace, is now available for Kindle and as a paperback on Amazon.com. Learn more about this practical guide to building a successful online marketplace business.
How to find the perfect name for your marketplace
Grant Polachek shares his approach on how to determine the right name for your marketplace.
10 marketplace thought leaders you should follow
A list of 10 important marketplace thought leaders to follow in this rapidly changing industry.
Why did Thumbtack succeed?
Starting your marketplace with one city and one vertical is key. But for every rule, there's an exception.
Five must-read books for marketplace entrepreneurs
Our CEO Juho picked the five books he strongly recommends to all marketplace entrepreneurs.
Three lessons learned: What matters most in marketplaces
In this interview, Oliver Bremer discusses how and why his first marketplace business Tangareef failed and what he learned from it to start a new project.
Discover latent demand – An interview with Boris Wertz
Boris Wertz, the prolific marketplace investor and former COO of AbeBooks, believes there are still many untapped verticals that are ripe for disruption by new marketplace businesses.
From marketplace idea to profitability in a matter of months
An interview with the founders of Cycle.land, the Sharetribe-powered bike-sharing marketplace that raised more than £400,000 in equity crowdfunding.
10 marketplace founders you should follow
A list of ten marketplace founders, who remain CEOs of their successful marketplace companies. Follow them for inspiration and advice.
How to find the next big marketplace idea
From the stage at Cabaret Sauvage in Paris, Robin is telling the vivid story about how she likes to stay at friends’ houses when she travels.
Three reasons why marketplaces fail (and how not to)
Peer-to-peer marketplaces can be great businesses. They combine the convenience of online stores with scale that comes from the notion that every consumer can also be a provider.
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