Is it time to rethink the healthcare marketplace model?
It’s been a year since we published our series on digital healthcare which I co-wrote with Jonathan Libov of Union Square Ventures. The reception was overwhelmingly positive (we’re thankful to all of you who gave us feedback) and opened up the floodgates to patients, medical professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors who still reach out to us with their pains, […]
Unlocking new value: adding the sixth factor in our marketplace criteria
We are often asked what we look for when evaluating marketplaces. Typically, we list out five main factors: High fragmentation: a lot of suppliers and buyers A “playing the field” relationship between buyer and seller, as opposed to monogamy where the seller doesn’t have any need to visit the marketplace after the first time High […]
Raising Capital for Marketplaces in 2016
A question we’re often asked during conversations with early-stage entrepreneurs is “What do investors look for when considering a Seed or Series A startup?” At some point, this question might be followed by “What does it take to get to Series B?” The expected trajectory takes a startup from Seed to Series A, Series A […]
Go Big or Go Home: It’s a binary outcome for marketplace start-ups
It’s typically a binary outcome for marketplace start-ups at the beginning: either you figure out the chicken-and-egg problem or you don’t. But, marketplaces can face a binary outcome at the other end too: either you scale your marketplace into a large, stand-alone company that can go public, or you find yourself with few other exit […]
Our Guide to Marketplaces, now summarized in a deck
Six months ago, we published A Guide to Marketplaces. Marketplace companies comprise an important part of our portfolio and investment thesis and we recognized the shortage of content out there specifically geared toward marketplace startups. We compiled a lot of the insights we learned from working with great marketplace companies and wrote a handbook. It […]