In Depth artwork

How to build and scale winning marketplaces | Casey Winters (Eventbrite, Pinterest, Grubhub)

In Depth

English - May 30, 2024 11:00 - 1 hour - ★★★★★ - 51 ratings
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Casey Winters is a legendary advisor on scaling, product and growth. He’s worked with companies like Airbnb, Faire, Canva, Whatnot, Thumbtack, Tinder, and Reddit. Until recently, Casey was the Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite, and has also led growth and product teams at Pinterest and Grubhub.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

What every marketplace founder should think about

Why marketplaces are different

Finding product market fit

Key ingredients to scaling a marketplace

Strategies for acquiring demand and supply


Referenced:

Airbnb: https://airbnb.com/

Bill Gurley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/

Blue Apron: https://www.blueapron.com/

Booking.com: https://www.booking.com/

DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/

eBay: https://ebay.com/

Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/

Expedia: https://www.expedia.com/

Faire: https://www.faire.com/

Fermat Commerce: https://www.fermatcommerce.com/

Grubhub: https://www.grubhub.com/

Lyft: https://www.lyft.com/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/

Postmates: https://postmates.com/

Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/

Simon Rothman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonrothman/

Square: https://squareup.com/

Tony Xu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xutony/

Turo: https://turo.com/

Uber: https://www.uber.com/

Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/


Where to find Casey Winters

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywinters/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/onecaseman

Website: https://caseyaccidental.com/


Where to find Brett Berson:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson


Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast


Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:30) Ingredients for a successful marketplace
(05:34) Creating scalable growth loops
(08:42) Emerging marketplaces in 2024
(10:56) 2 ways to acquire supply and demand
(15:39) What’s unique about building a marketplace
(18:27) When to focus on the demand side
(23:10) Who to hire
(26:22) Finding sticky customers
(26:27) What Grubhub should’ve done
(30:19) Uber versus Lyft
(34:23) One thing all marketplace founders should know
(34:45) Finding product market fit
(40:45) Single versus multi-category marketplaces
(43:02) When to expand
(44:22) The best low-frequency marketplace
(46:00) The product is supply, not software
(50:48) No value in car-sharing
(56:11) Improving supply and demand over time
(61:04) The “setup, aha, and habit” framework
(66:27) Avoid these marketplace mistakes
(71:16) 2 people who influenced Casey’s thinking

Casey Winters is a legendary advisor on scaling, product and growth. He’s worked with companies like Airbnb, Faire, Canva, Whatnot, Thumbtack, Tinder, and Reddit. Until recently, Casey was the Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite, and has also led growth and product teams at Pinterest and Grubhub.

In today’s episode, we discuss:


What every marketplace founder should think about
Why marketplaces are different
Finding product market fit
Key ingredients to scaling a marketplace
Strategies for acquiring demand and supply

Referenced:


Airbnb: https://airbnb.com/

Bill Gurley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/

Blue Apron: https://www.blueapron.com/

Booking.com: https://www.booking.com/

DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/

eBay: https://ebay.com/

Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/

Expedia: https://www.expedia.com/

Faire: https://www.faire.com/

Fermat Commerce: https://www.fermatcommerce.com/

Grubhub: https://www.grubhub.com/

Lyft: https://www.lyft.com/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/

Postmates: https://postmates.com/

Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/

Simon Rothman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonrothman/

Square: https://squareup.com/

Tony Xu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xutony/

Turo: https://turo.com/

Uber: https://www.uber.com/

Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/

Where to find Casey Winters


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywinters/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/onecaseman

Website: https://caseyaccidental.com/

Where to find Brett Berson:


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:


Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:30) Ingredients for a successful marketplace

(05:34) Creating scalable growth loops

(08:42) Emerging marketplaces in 2024

(10:56) 2 ways to acquire supply and demand

(15:39) What’s unique about building a marketplace

(18:27) When to focus on the demand side

(23:10) Who to hire

(26:22) Finding sticky customers

(26:27) What Grubhub should’ve done

(30:19) Uber versus Lyft

(34:23) One thing all marketplace founders should know

(34:45) Finding product market fit

(40:45) Single versus multi-category marketplaces

(43:02) When to expand

(44:22) The best low-frequency marketplace

(46:00) The product is supply, not software

(50:48) No value in car-sharing

(56:11) Improving supply and demand over time

(61:04) The “setup, aha, and habit” framework

(66:27) Avoid these marketplace mistakes

(71:16) 2 people who influenced Casey’s thinking

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