The 3 main problems marketplace exist to solve

Businesses exist to solve problems. This weekend I was at SWSXi where I had luck to meet and watch some of the top entrepreneurs in the world talk about the problems they solved, those that they didn’t get round to solving and are fixated on next. And all the while I kept thinking: how does this apply to our business at PeoplePerHour? And more importantly how does that form a coherent step by step strategy to win? And how are we executing towards it?

Below I summarize my thoughts drawing on some of the insight I gathered at SWSXi and applying our experience at PPH to date.

I believe this applies to any marketplace business. The problems we exist to solve are these 3 and in this sequence.

1. Distribution

Marketplaces exist first and foremost to aggregate and distribute content that’s ready for collaborative consumption (whether that’s a display of your spare room on Airbnb, your grandmas hand knitted sweater on Etsy, your unused car on Zipcar, your spare cash on Zopa or your skills and spare time on PeoplePerHour)continue reading »