Essay · 10 min read

On B2B2C Business Models

Alex Rampell · Andreessen Horowitz Free Intermediate

Rampell lays out how a company can sell into a business while quietly building direct loyalty with the end consumer inside it, which is the structural version of 'find who up the chain has the budget.' Useful if your model needs to route around your actual user's wallet through an employer, platform, or partner.

• You can serve an end user for free by selling the relationship to the business above them.
• The model only works long-term if the end user's loyalty attaches to you, not the intermediary.
• Early on, cooperate with the incumbent business rather than threatening to disintermediate it.