Category
How to position, focus, and build a sustainable marketplace business.
6 insights
A16z analyzed how generative AI reshapes supply and demand across marketplaces. The real insight isn't about features — it's about which marketplace types survive and which don't.
Comprehensive, exclusive, or curated — the supply strategy you pick determines your growth model, your competitive moat, and whether you can actually own demand. Most founders never explicitly make this choice.
A growing number of niche marketplaces are outperforming horizontal platforms. The reason is not what most founders think.
The founder of Chowbus started by convincing one restaurant owner with a handmade order operation. Today half their restaurant partners are exclusive. The strategy was never about scale — it was about depth.
Many early-stage marketplaces fail to reach meaningful traction despite having both supply and demand. Liquidity — not user count — is the real problem.
Most marketplace founders benchmark against Airbnb or Uber. But over 75% of successful marketplaces have low transaction frequency and modest order values. The model you choose changes everything about how you grow.