All articles by Juho Makkonen

A recession is a challenge for any business. But a downturn can also offer tremendous opportunities for marketplaces

Venture capital doesn’t work for most marketplaces. Luckily, there are options. Consider grants, loans, and revenue-based financing.

Your marketplace startup funding options aren’t limited to bootstrapping or raising venture capital. Read on for our CEO Juho’s best tips on a funding method close to all our hearts at Sharetribe: crowdfunding.

Sharetribe’s CEO Juho’s complete guide to raising venture capital for your marketplace.

Should you raise VC funding for your marketplace? If you want to build a unicorn, yes. If you want to get rich – maybe not.

Can you build a successful marketplace business without funding? Absolutely! Bootstrapping might even help you become profitable faster.

Struggling with funding your marketplace? This guide helps you decide how much marketplace funding you need – and when and where to source it.

The most important metrics that anchor all your marketing and growth activities.

Five recommendations to consider for your marketplace during times of slower business. Some can help you make it through these difficult times, others prepare your business for better ones ahead.

There are a number of specific payment features marketplaces need from a payment service provider. This article compares the key features from four prominent PSPs: PayPal, Stripe, Adyen, and MANGOPAY.

When you are choosing a payment service provider, payment costs, ease of integration, and quality of customer service are important things to consider. In this article, we discuss how PayPal, Stripe, Adyen, and MANGOPAY compare in these aspects.

What are the best payment service providers for online marketplaces? In this article series, we identify the most relevant payment service providers for online marketplaces.

The founder of TransferTravel reveals how creating content helped them build supply and awareness about their marketplace, up to 30,000 visitors per month, without spending anything on ads.

The managing partner of NFX Guild believes a new class of businesses—ones that combine aspects from marketplaces and social networks—is being created.

The co-founder of Blablacar discusses what B2B marketplaces can learn from P2P marketplaces, and specifically, marketplace trust as a facilitator for transactions.

Starting your marketplace with one city and one vertical is key. But for every rule, there's an exception.

Tackle the chicken-or-egg problem with an extreme focus.

Our CEO Juho picked the five books he strongly recommends to all marketplace entrepreneurs.

How ten well-known marketplaces match supply and demand, and how to pick the right approach for you.

Arash Shiva and Marius Ciocirlan of Sharegrid reveal how they went from bootstrapping to $1M in funding, using Sharetribe.

Boris Wertz, the prolific marketplace investor and former COO of AbeBooks, believes there are still many untapped verticals that are ripe for disruption by new marketplace businesses.

An interview with the founders of Cycle.land, the Sharetribe-powered bike-sharing marketplace that raised more than £400,000 in equity crowdfunding.

The founder of Studiotime shares how he built a profitable marketplace business by bootstrapping.

The founder of Storefront advises entrepreneurs to build manual-first marketplaces and to not scale too rapidly.

Example of a first year’s marketplace startup budget, and how to spend it wisely.

Choosing the early-stage marketing mix for your marketplace.

How to bring in the first, quality providers before your platform has any customers.

The science behind minimal abandoned carts for marketplace platforms.

Your success depends on demand finding its way to supply. Here’s how to make it happen.

Find a pricing strategy that is just right for everyone: you, your providers, and their customers.

How to solve the most daunting challenge of the marketplace business model: platform leakage.

Compare marketplace business models and find the revenue strategy that brings you the biggest growth boost.

‘Time is money’, and other teachings to inspire you to take the plunge and launch your marketplace as soon as you can.

Peer-to-peer marketplaces can be great businesses. They combine the convenience of online stores with scale that comes from the notion that every consumer can also be a provider.