Article · 15 min read

28 Ways to Grow Supply in a Marketplace

Lenny Rachitsky (via Andrew Chen) · andrewchen.com Free Intermediate

Since supply is usually the side you bootstrap by hand, this is a focused list of 28 concrete ways real marketplaces did it. It goes wide (referrals, going vertical, recruiting from competitors, building tools sellers want) so you can find tactics that fit your category. Keep it as a brainstorming sheet when your supply side is stuck.

  • There are many supply tactics, most marketplaces only need a few
  • Building a useful tool for sellers can pull supply in on its own
  • Recruit supply from wherever those sellers already operate today
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The question it answers

  1. I run a two-sided marketplace. Do I get my first customers by starting with supply or demand, and how do I avoid the empty-restaurant problem?

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