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Required reading for marketplace startups: The 20 best essays

Andrew Chen

To lead off this list, my colleague @jeff_jordan has an awesome preso that covers everything from the marketplace “wheel” – network effects, and how they’re different than ecommerce products. Amazing, thoughtful preso. Must watch. Solving the Chicken and Egg problem of marketplaces. Now let’s get to the links.

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The Power User Curve: The best way to understand your most engaged users

Andrew Chen

In ecommerce marketplaces it’s power sellers, in ridesharing platforms it’s power riders, and in social networks it’s influencers. Is there something about the product — e.g. onboarding, the core experience, etc. The importance of power users. Thanks again to Li Jin for pulling together this essay!

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The red flags and magic numbers that investors look for in your startup’s metrics – 80 slide deck included!

Andrew Chen

2) Then, to identify potential upside based learnings from within the company as well as across benchmarks from across industry. Education during onboarding helps too. Ecommerce companies often use push to advertise sales- no wonder the CTRs are low. 3) And finally, to prioritize and make decisions that impact the future.

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