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Dan Hockenmaier

1 episode

Episodes

Developing a growth model + marketplace growth strategy | Dan Hockenmaier

Oct 9, 20221h 4m

Guest: Dan Hockenmaier - Head of Strategy and Analytics at Faire. Dan has extensive experience with marketplace startups, having helped scale Thumbtack and consulted for numerous startups through his firm, Basis One. Key Takeaways: Marketplace Dynamics: Treat marketplaces like ecosystems; small changes can have significant delayed effects. Approach with a light touch and focus on core incentives. Growth Models: Essential for understanding business mechanics. Start with acquisition, retention, and monetization, then add complexity for transactional or marketplace businesses. Focus on Demand: While supply is crucial, especially early on, aggregating demand is key to marketplace success. Demand drives supplier engagement and marketplace growth. Expansion Strategy: Prioritize adjacent markets where you can leverage existing strengths and accentuate network effects. Product experience should lead go-to-market efforts. Future of Marketplaces: Marketplaces are evolving to manage more of the value chain, increasing commission rates. The future may see some marketplaces becoming fully integrated services. Topics Covered: Growth models, marketplace strategy, supply vs. demand focus, marketplace expansion, horizontal vs. vertical marketplaces, future of marketplaces.

Notable Quotes

โ€œIf you're building a SaaS business, you're a construction worker, you're building the product and the features and selling it, and it's this very linear thing. For a marketplace, you're like messing with this ecosystem that you don't actually really understand how it works.โ€

Marketplace dynamics

โ€œThe more concentrated either side of your market is, the more leverage they have, the less likely they are to need you and the less likely they are to be willing to pay a high commission.โ€

Market fragmentation

โ€œNewer marketplaces are charging higher commissions and they're doing more work to justify those commissions.โ€

Marketplace evolution