‍
We're sharing a recent post from the community by Mike Williams on our blog, which is a brief list of 10 tips for first-time marketplace founders. This was originally shared as a post in the community here.
‍
Hey all, I was having a chat with someone going through Marketplace School earlier and they were asking for more general advice on launching a marketplace based on past experience. I mentioned a few things, but specifically 10 things that I would tell myself as a first-time marketplace founder.

I wanted to note that this is more quick advice that came to mind, but the following are 10 things I would go back to tell myself as a first-time marketplace founder:
‍
1. Operate with a unique insight(s)
2. Don't skip through the ideation stage & talking to users
3. Don't overbuild the MVP
4. Launch as soon as you can
5. Create transactions (value) by manually matching
6. Find (or build) a distribution advantage from the beginning
7. Constraining to build liquidity
8. Liquidity is what matters
9. Marketplaces are hard, so don't try to do it alone
10. Don't give up‍
‍
There are more things I would of course tell myself, but the above initially came to mind. I’d be happy to expand on any of the above (like #2 being about understanding typical marketplace challenges, benefits, etc and using this as a basis for working through the idea stages). I’d also love to hear from you all and maybe a few things you would go back to tell yourself before starting your marketplace in the replies below.
‍
You can connect with Mike to discuss this post in the Everything Marketplaces community here.