Why Your Marketplace Isn't Launching (Hint: It's Not the Tools)

Happy Monday,

I hope you had a great weekend! Over the weekend, I received an email from a reader about building a marketplace and some of the challenges they were facing. Because these challenges are roadblocks I see a lot of you run into, I thought I would respond publicly in the hopes of helping more of you.

The Challenge With Building Marketplaces As A Beginner

They are working on a marketplace to connect artists with local art buyers and want to create a fully functional prototype to prove demand.

However, they're facing a few challenges:

• Developer Issues: Past work with developers didn't go well.
• No-Code Learning Curve: They found tools like Webflow, Make, and Airtable through my content and want to try those, but are still new to them.
• Technical Skill Gap: They lack the skills to build a prototype and are struggling to make progress.

They would love to know how I would approach building the fully functional prototype for their marketplace if I was in this situation.

The Real Problem (Hint: It's not the developers and it's not the tools)

The main issue here is that the goal—building a fully functional prototype—isn't realistic given where you are.

Building a fully functional marketplace to the level of Unicorn Factory, Tutorlyft, or Rivuuz is not something you do over a weekend. It takes months, if not years, and it usually involves one of two things:

• Invest Time: Spending months and months of time getting good at using no-code tools through trial and error.
• Hire Help: Spending a lot of money on hiring someone who has been there and done it to build it for you.

In most cases, option two isn't really an option for first-time founders or bootstrappers, which means that all that is really available to you is to learn how it works.

Start With Something Simple

Let's be honest: Building a fully functional marketplace is just not on the cards at the moment unless you want to spend money on getting someone to help you, and if a fully functional marketplace is all you are aiming for, you will never get started.

A better approach is to break down the big goal of having a fully functional marketplace into smaller, more manageable milestones such as: learning how to build a landing page for your marketplace, building a simple database with your sellers, and then eventually automating some workflows and processes.

I would just start with the first task and focus only on that until you start seeing momentum (customer sign ups).

TLDR:

1. Simplify Your Project: Instead of building a marketplace, start with a simple landing page for your marketplace to collect signups.
2. Prove Demand Manually: Use the landing page to get customer signups and help them manually (reach out by email). This allows you to prove demand without needing a fully built out marketplace.
3. Build Momentum: As you start gaining traction, begin automating your processes and productizing the things you are handling manually. This will intro you to automation tools like Make.com and Zapier.

Okay, so how do we build a landing page for our marketplace?

(See, this is already a simpler question to answer than "how do I build a fully functional marketplace.")

Step 1: Create Your Landing Page

I use Webflow and Relume to build my landing pages. Copy the Relume style guide and start creating the outline for your landing page. Start learning how to use Webflow and Relume.

Step 2: Add a Call to Action to Your Landing Page

Create a form for your customers to fill out, describing what they are looking for. You can send any form submissions to an Airtable database. Learn how to use Make.com to send Webflow form submissions to Airtable.

Step 3: Set Up an Autoresponder in Make.com

Set up an autoresponder in Make.com to allow customers to schedule a call with you if they are looking for someone.

In short, it's all about putting yourself in a position where you can win. And the way you win is by allowing yourself to build momentum by answering simpler questions "How do I build a landing page in Webflow?" rather than "How do I build a marketplace like AirBnB?"

Here is are the key points:

• Reset Expectations: Be realistic about your current skill level and set achievable goals.
• Break Down Goals: Instead of aiming for a fully functional prototype, start with smaller milestones like building a landing page.
• Prove Demand: Use a simple landing page to gather signups and manually help customers to prove demand.
• Build Momentum: As you gain traction, automate your processes and scale your efforts.

By simplifying your milestones and focusing on what you can achieve with your current skill set, you'll find it much easier to build momentum for your marketplace business.

Best,

Connor

P.S. Late last week, I launched the new version of my "How to build a marketplace without code" workshop. It's the most up-to-date version where I break down my 4-part framework for building marketplaces with no-code tools. Check it out and let me know what you think!