Category: Online marketplaces

Unit Economics matter, Scalability of the Unit Economics matters more…

I like entrepreneurs who think hard about the unit economics (UE) of their business from very early on in the post 'product - market fit' phase. Having said that, I love entrepreneurs who think not only about UE but also, the 'scalability of their unit economics'. Eliminating the jargon here, what I mean is that … Continue reading Unit Economics matter, Scalability of the Unit Economics matters more… →

3 Cs of Profitable Growth – ‘Key Metrics to ‘kill for’ or else get ‘killed’’

Over the last 6 years, I have had the privilege to work along some of the best entrepreneurial minds in the country - this allowed me to understand what each one of them was doing differently or not so differently. The following post is a summary of my findings on what differentiates successful internet companies … Continue reading 3 Cs of Profitable Growth – ‘Key Metrics to ‘kill for’ or else get ‘killed’’ →

Winning the Online Marketplace – Part V ‘Revisiting Importance of the Supply Side’

In my first post about ‘Importance of the Supply side’, I talked about the ‘Chicken and Egg’ problem (Found here - Winning the Marketplace - Part I 'Importance of the Supply Side') and how quality supply on-boarding, retaining and incentivizing is key to building a strong value proposition for the demand side. Retaining and scaling … Continue reading Winning the Online Marketplace – Part V ‘Revisiting Importance of the Supply Side’ →

Winning the Online Marketplace – Part III ‘Online Marketplace Business Metrics – The What, When and Why’

The one thing I observe is common across most successful entrepreneurs is that  that they doggedly watch their business metrics. And they do this to identify key challenges, seek help from investors / mentors quickly without mincing words. They then employ some of their best brains to address the right problems to come up with strategic initiatives … Continue reading Winning the Online Marketplace – Part III ‘Online Marketplace Business Metrics – The What, When and Why’ →

Winning the Online Marketplace – Part II ‘Developing a Value Proposition for the Demand Side’

As you think about developing the core value proposition for the consumer ('demand' side) of your marketplace business (be it product or services), there are three essential aspects that the platform needs to solve for – (1) Discovery (2) Decision making (3) Delivery aka the three 'Ds'. Before we get into the specifics of how to solve for each of them, it’s important that to define these … Continue reading Winning the Online Marketplace – Part II ‘Developing a Value Proposition for the Demand Side’ →

Winning the Online Marketplace – Part I ‘Importance of the Supply Side’

 Over the last 4 years as a venture investor, some of the most exciting moments include interactions with entrepreneurs hustling to launch & scale disruptive marketplace businesses. Each of these meetings have fundamentally revolved around two important questions for the entrepreneur - (1) The ‘Chicken Or Egg’ problem, which is essentially asking the question – … Continue reading Winning the Online Marketplace – Part I ‘Importance of the Supply Side’ →