Tips on starting your marketplace

Begin your journey as a marketplace entrepreneur! Here are our best picks to help you fine-tune your marketplace idea, validate your concept, and get your platform off the ground fast.

How to Choose the Right Marketplace Software
Starting a marketplace
Platform technology

Marketplace software: How to compare and choose the best solution

There are dozens of online marketplace software alternatives to choose from. Learn how to make the right choice for your marketplace idea.

by Sjoerd Handgraaf


What makes a great marketplace idea

Everything starts with an idea. These articles get to the bottom of the anatomy of great marketplace ideas. You’ll learn how to look at the world through the eyes of a marketplace entrepreneur and spot opportunities everywhere. They’ll also give you the basics on how to monetize your marketplace idea.

Colorful pencils connected by lines drawn from the tips.
Starting a marketplace

What you need to know to plan your marketplace business

An introduction to online marketplaces. What they are, why they are booming, and why you should build one.

by Cristóbal Gracia

Marketplace idea
Starting a marketplace

How to find great online marketplace ideas

How to spot marketplace opportunities and transform them into great business ideas.

by Cristóbal Gracia

Choose the right marketplace business model
Starting a marketplace
Business Model

The 6 marketplace business models – and how to choose the right one

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

by Juho Makkonen


Preparing your business for take-off

You can start working on your marketplace before you have a single line of code written for your website. Take the time to prevalidate your idea, define your budget, and find the smartest way to spend your time and  money. Validating your idea will give you lots of new insights that you can take with you to building your MVP.

How much money is needed to start a marketplace business?
Starting a marketplace

How much does it cost to build a marketplace business?

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

by Juho Makkonen

How to validate your marketplace idea
Starting a marketplace

How to validate your marketplace idea before building the platform

Don’t build a desert platform. Here are the steps to take to prevalidate your marketplace idea.

by Cristóbal Gracia


Find the fastest way to market

Don’t build a desert platform. A common mistake of early-stage marketplace founders is spending too much time and money building their first version. Instead, our advice is to define the minimum set of features you’ll need to wow your first users, and launch as fast as possible. These articles are all about helping you find the fastest and most affordable way to market.

How to Choose the Right Marketplace Software
Starting a marketplace
Platform technology

Marketplace software: How to compare and choose the best solution

There are dozens of online marketplace software alternatives to choose from. Learn how to make the right choice for your marketplace idea.

by Sjoerd Handgraaf

Rows of same-sized, square-shaped boxes in pastel colors
Starting a marketplace
Platform technology

Your marketplace MVP – How to build a Minimum Viable Platform

What you should focus on when you’re creating the first version of your marketplace platform.

by Cristóbal Gracia

How to launch your online marketpalce
Starting a marketplace

Why you should launch your marketplace early

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

by Juho Makkonen


More on starting a marketplace

More inspiration for the beginning of your journey as a marketplace entrepreneur.

Three thriving cacti in small terracotta pots on pink surface and pink background.
Marketing & growth
Starting a marketplace

Marketplace businesses that thrive in a recession

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

by Juho Makkonen

Marketplace Glossary: a stack of colorful books on a blue background
Starting a marketplace

The complete marketplace glossary

Your lexicon to the world of marketplaces.

by Katri Antikainen

Pastel-colored 3-dimensional blocks arragned in the shapes of a pie chart and column chart.
Starting a marketplace

How I built a bootstrap marketplace

Mike Williams discussed building and scaling Studiotime all without external funding. Before Mike sold the business, Studiotime was the largest online marketplace for booking music studios.

by Mike Williams

Connor Gillivan on competing with marketplace giants
Starting a marketplace

Competing with marketplace giants — An interview with Connor Gillivan

How can a marketplace startup compete with platform giants? Connor Gillivan, co-founder and CMO of the freelance marketplace FreeeUp, shares their story.

by Mira Muurinen

"Validate your marketplace idea as you go," says Anthony Collias
Starting a marketplace

Validate your marketplace as you go

Stasher co-founder and CCO Anthony Collias reveals how Stasher validated their business idea, built their tech, found partners and funders, and expanded the marketplace to three continents.

by Mira Muurinen

The Lean Marketplace - A practical guide for building a successful online marketplace business
Starting a marketplace

The Lean Marketplace - out now!

Sharetribe's new book, The Lean Marketplace, is now available for Kindle and as a paperback on Amazon.com. Learn more about this practical guide to building a successful online marketplace business.

by Sjoerd Handgraaf

How to find the perfect name for your marketplace business
Starting a marketplace

How to find the perfect name for your marketplace

Grant Polachek shares his approach on how to determine the right name for your marketplace.

by Grant Polachek

Ten marketplace thought leaders every marketplace entrepreneur should follow
Starting a marketplace

10 marketplace thought leaders you should follow

A list of 10 important marketplace thought leaders to follow in this rapidly changing industry.

by Sjoerd Handgraaf

Why did Thumbtack succeed?
Starting a marketplace

Why did Thumbtack succeed?

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

by Juho Makkonen

Five must read books for marketplace entrepreneurs
Starting a marketplace

Five must-read books for marketplace entrepreneurs

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

by Juho Makkonen

3 Lessons learned from starting a marketplace – An interview with Oliver Bremer
Starting a marketplace

Three lessons learned: What matters most in marketplaces

In this interview, Oliver Bremer discusses how and why his first marketplace business Tangareef failed and what he learned from it to start a new project.

by Sjoerd Handgraaf

Boris Wertz on how to Discover Latent Demand. How to build a marketplace with the Marketplace Academy
Starting a marketplace

Discover latent demand – An interview with Boris Wertz

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.

by Juho Makkonen

The foudners of Cycle.land
Starting a marketplace

From marketplace idea to profitability in a matter of months

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

by Juho Makkonen

Top ten marketplace founder CEOs to follow for marketplace entrepreneurs
Starting a marketplace

10 marketplace founders you should follow

A list of ten marketplace founders, who remain CEOs of their successful marketplace companies. Follow them for inspiration and advice.

by Sjoerd Handgraaf

Robin Chase at Ouishare Fest
Starting a marketplace

How to find the next big marketplace idea

From the stage at Cabaret Sauvage in Paris, Robin is telling the vivid story about how she likes to stay at friends’ houses when she travels.

by Thea Sørvig Østbye

Peer-to-peer marketplaces and their 3 most common pitfalls
Starting a marketplace

Three reasons why marketplaces fail (and how not to)

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.

by Juho Makkonen

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