From eBay to AirBnB and Uber, online marketplaces services continue to disrupt vertical after vertical. I am a lean and product coach working within a early stage VC. Over the last year and a half I have worked with 3 different marketplace business (Appearhere, Snaptrip and Lexoo) from day 0. In this talk I will share our approach to investing in marketplaces and how to go from a marketplace idea and build upto scale using lean methods.

1. Lean Marketplaces
Dharmesh Raithatha
@dhrmshr

12. Marketplaces

13. IDEA

14. FORWARDPARTNERS
Investment
Space
Hands-on startup team
Lean and design thinking

15. FORWARDPARTNERS
Investment
Space
Hands-on startup team
Lean and design thinking
Month 0 Month 12
Solo Founder Own team
Pre-funding Series A

16. FORWARDPARTNERS
Problem
Solution Fit
Idea
V1.0
Product
Market Fit
Invest Series-A
12 months
Business
model fit

17. Lean Canvas Workshop

18. Lean Canvas Workshop output
Assumptions
and
Experiments

20. Marketplace
Playbook

21. Buyers
Characteristics of good marketplaces
Liquidity
Choice
Price
Speed
Fragmented
Enhanced experience
Trust
Network Effects
Suppliers

22. DEVELOP EMPATHY

23. 20-40 Interviews
Observation
Immersion

24. Looking for patterns and commonalities

26. THE CONCIERGE

27. 1 week to real transactions

28. THE HONEY JAR

30. MAKE A PUDDLE

32. THE CHERRY PICK

35. FORWARDPARTNERS
Problem
Solution Fit
Idea
V1.0
Product
Market Fit
Invest Series-A
12 months
Business
model fit

36. DEEPEN EMPATHY

38. THE PIGGY BACK

40. THE SEESAW

41. REMOVE THE TRAINING
WHEELS

43. FORWARDPARTNERS
Problem
Solution Fit
Idea
V1.0
Product
Market Fit
Invest Series-A
12 months
Business
model fit

44. FIND THE SOURCE

46. CUTTING YOU OUT

47. CUTTING YOU OUT

48. BADGE OF HONOUR

49. THE INSURANCE PLAN

51. FORWARDPARTNERS
Problem
Solution Fit
Idea
V1.0
Product
Market Fit
Invest Series-A
12 months
Business
model fit

61. Thanks!
Dharmesh Raithatha
@dhrmshr