A Guide to Marketplaces
p/a-guide-to-marketplaces
Everything you need to know about building a marketplace
Angela Tran
A Guide to Marketplaces - 2nd Edition — Everything you need to know about building a marketplace
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Two years after our first release and 25,000 downloads, we are excited to publish the 2nd edition of our marketplace handbook.

Version One is an SF-based seed fund that invests in companies leveraging network effects.

Replies
Matt Mazzeo
Wow... so much good stuff here. Thanks for compiling. Excited to dig in.
Angela Tran
@mazzeo Thanks Matt!
Marc Kuo
I read the first edition of this; really good insights – I would say it's the best canonical primer on marketplaces that I've encountered. Excited about v2 – well done, Boris!
Boris Wertz
@kuomarc thanks, Marc :-)
Thomas Smyth

Check it out!

Pros:

Super smart & helpful

Cons:

None!

Walid Ark
As the first one. Its a must to read for everyone who is interested in marketplaces.
Angela Tran
@walark Thanks Walid! Happy reading!
Adam
A fantastic read. I particularly found the piece on SaaS enabled marketplaces (and the included references) to be quite interesting. How would the metrics (chapter 5) and investor question (chapter 7) differ for these types of businesses, if at all?
Adam
@atkingyens or @bwertz - any insight here?
Boris Wertz
@atkingyens @adamallaccess Not much different in the long run but very different in the beginning as the SaaS part is probably the only area that has traction at the seed and Series A stage (so at that stage MRR plus vision for the evolving marketplace becomes key)
Adam
@atkingyens @bwertz Thank you. That makes sense. Have you seen many examples of the inverse? i.e. businesses that start as a marketplace and introduce the SaaS product(s) later?
Boris Wertz
@atkingyens @adamallaccess yes, e.g. marketplaces building out inventory management tools for sellers and offering those as SaaS.