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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.
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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 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:
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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. Constrain 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
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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.
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You can connect with Mike to discuss this post in the Everything Marketplaces community here.