Best way to launch a platform based startup?
Hi guys! I'm looking to launch a platform based startup (sort of like a marketplace). I am wondering if anyone had tips on how to get more people to use it on day 1. Obviously, if I have no users, it will be really hard to get new users onto the platform.
Go to someone with some influence to help on launch day? Not necessarily "an influencer" as we've come to loathe even this term, but just someone who could help get folks excited.
That's honestly a great idea! Thanks.
Grey Matter podcast covered this last month. Hope that helps! https://medium.com/@greylockvc/lessons-learned-growing-successful-marketplaces-1747ddf1e045
Awesome! Cheers.
There's always a debate among platform-based business @borzi
It's important to figure out the balance between demand and supply side. Generate a small group of engaged users and figure out whether you can scale by service varieties or expand regionally.
You can post your startup in some sites like 10words, producthunt, betapage, betalist etc..
List of those you got here https://github.com/dehenne/awesome-visibility
In free version you have to wait ~30-90 days in line.
Just found a great post on hackernews regarding this. If anyone else is interested:
https://sizle.io/how-to-maximise-traffic-to-a-bootstrapped-product-hunt-launch/
A lot of people in the bootstrapper space like to say SaaS is hard, but two-sided marketplaces are much harder. Getting them going often often involves VC or something like the following steps:
If this is your first startup, I'd strongly recommend trying something with a simpler business model!
This is a valid concern, but I think that I explained it poorly here - I wouldn't say it is a marketplace, it's more like a job board: some users create posts and are looking for certain types of people, while others respond to it. I think in this way it does not really require as many people, since it is free to apply to posts and less of an investment (the whole platform will be entirely free to use for the first month or so while I implement payments).