Recording of the Everything Marketplaces Group Chat #069 (9/14) with Varun Khona, who's the CEO of Headout. Headout is an on-demand marketplace for travelers to discover & book last-minute tours, activities, events, & local experiences in over 50 cities. They just announced their latest $12M funding round last week from top investors like Version One Ventures, FJ Labs, and Haystack.

0:05 Intro
‍1:04 Varun's background
‍2:48 Initially starting Headout as a marketplace
‍7:39 An overview of Headout as a managed marketplace
‍13:29 How Headout standardized supply across categories, markets, & industries
‍16:18 Challenges with last-minute bookings & managing availability
‍19:34 The playbook Headout uses to launch new markets
‍22:18 How Headout sets pricing & monetizes as a managed marketplace
‍26:13 How Headout has evolved as a marketplace
‍30:33 Headout's plans to hire 150+
‍35:26 The fundraising journey
‍41:04 Group Q&A on recommendations for approaching fundraising in the earliest stages
‍46:05 Group Q&A on how to pre-qualify investors & ask for warm introductions
‍50:34 Group Q&A on metrics when fundraising
‍54:31 Group Q&A on customer research & building product in the earliest stages as a marketplace
‍59:01 Tips for early stage marketplace founders

Varun on Twitter: https://twitter.com/varunkhona
Headout: https://www.headout.com
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‍Connect with Varun in the Everything Marketplaces community.