Network effects on social platforms: why the quality of user matters
Back in July, we wrote about network effects in marketplaces and social platforms and how they are critical to defensibility. In the post, we talked about the difference between direct and indirect network effects, and how they may or may not relate to virality. Since then, we have been further developing our investment thesis on […]
Products that help power online marketplaces
As you’re building your marketplace, consider which tools and technology to leverage. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel as new infrastructure solutions are emerging to help facilitate transactions on your platform, including: payment software, background checks, shipping and fulfillment solutions, and data privacy. With help from the Marketplaces Facebook Group, we have curated a […]
On the future of healthcare
It has been a while since we’ve written about healthcare. Our last update was in June 2014 when we shared what we were excited about: patient-doctor networks and patient health data. This hasn’t changed but we’ve certainly learned more from the many founders and physicians who we have spoken to over the past year. We […]
Network Effects in Marketplace, Communities and Social Platforms
These days, we’re hyper-focused on marketplaces, communities and social platforms. We love these platforms for many reasons, but the primary one is the power of their network effects and how they create a high degree of defensibility for startups. What are network effects? “Network effects” is a frequently used term and it is sometimes confused […]
Marketplace KPI Dashboard
A few months ago, I wrote about the questions that we typically ask when evaluating a marketplace opportunity. Now, inspired by our friend Christoph Janz at Point Nine Capital who created a KPI dashboard for early-stage SaaS, we have put together a KPI template for marketplaces. We recognize that every marketplace is different, but each […]