For marketplace founders

Solve the chicken-and-egg before you spend a dollar on demand.

Built for two-sided marketplaces pre- and post-liquidity. We assume you have a supply problem before you have a demand problem.

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What we grade you on

Match rate in your starter slice. GMV is downstream; match rate is the lock.

What this fixes

Three problems you actually have — not three a generic playbook assumes.

You're buying demand into a marketplace with no supply

Match rates < 60% torch trust faster than they grow GMV. The plan stops the spend, concierges 50 high-quality supply, then re-opens demand in one slice.

Liquidity in one geo, dead in the next 5

Expansion playbooks try to scale all 6 in parallel. Marketplaces win city-by-city — we sequence the second slice off the first one's match-rate floor.

Trust + vetting story is missing

Buyers won't transact without it; sellers won't list without it. The plan ships the trust artifacts before the next acquisition push.

Your 90 days

The Marketplace shape

Three phases. Each one assumes the previous one worked. No "test five channels in week two" generic scaffolding.

Concierge the supply side

Weeks 1–4

Hand-recruit the constrained side; do things that don't scale.

Prove liquidity in one slice

Weeks 5–8

Drive demand into one geo/category and measure match rate + repeat.

Expand & retain

Weeks 9–12

Open the second slice, build the trust/vetting story, retention loops on both sides.

Channels we lean on

What actually works here.

Founder-led BD on the constrained side
Hand-recruit the 50 supply that change the match rate. Do things that don't scale.
Vertical SEO (city × category)
Long-tail intent that converts because supply is named and local.
Geo-targeted demand once liquidity is proven
Open paid only in the slice with match rate > 70%. Hold the rest.
Trust artifacts (reviews, vetting, dispute story)
The page that closes the buy-side once you have supply.
Referral loops on both sides
Sellers refer sellers; buyers refer buyers — both with native incentives.

We won't do

Things we cut on day one.

✕No 'just run Meta ads' as the demand plan
✕No DTC creative loop (you have two sides, not one funnel)
✕No nationwide brand spend before liquidity is proven in one geo
✕Broad national paid before liquidity in one slice
✕Influencer seeding before supply is named and vetted
✕Brand campaigns that don't tie to a match-rate threshold

Week 1, sample

Four priorities, in order.

This is the actual shape of your first week — not a feature tour.

1
Cut all paid demand until supply hits 50 vetted listings in your starter slice
Acquisition into a liquidity-poor slice burns trust 3× faster than it grows GMV.
2
Hand-recruit 10 supply this week via founder DMs
Concierge the constrained side first. Templated outreach gets ignored at this stage.
3
Publish the trust page (vetting, reviews, dispute policy)
Without it, buy-side will not transact even when supply lands.
4
Define the match-rate floor that unlocks paid demand
Pick the number now (e.g. 70%). It becomes the trigger you can't fudge later.

Be honest with yourself

Instead of: single-sided ecommerce funnels, SDR-led B2B SaaS plans, or generic 'startup marketing' that assumes a one-sided product.

If that's actually your motion — pick the right vertical below. Generic plans cost more than wrong ones.

B2B SaaS →DTC ecommerce →Agencies & services →Creators & personal media →

Build the Marketplaces plan in two minutes.

Eight questions. Branched for Marketplace. No credit card.

Build mine See a sample plan first