The Marketplace Economy — An Introduction

For the better part of my career, I have built, scaled and/or managed digital marketplace businesses.  During this time, I have had my share of successes, failures and “in-betweens.” Probably one of the reasons for this dispersion of results it that the marketplace business model is a particularly complex business structure.  While many times I would seek out insights from books, articles and experts in the field, there were often situations where I had to figure things out on my own. 

This blog is a collection of viewpoints on a variety of topics related to managing digital marketplaces. It is written to be a resource for marketplace entrepreneurs, investors, product managers, strategic planners, and anyone interested in learning more about how marketplaces work. Hopefully it can provide a unique perspective on familiar topics as well as fill in the gaps on some of the more specialized topics related to managing digital marketplaces. 

This blog will also touch on the bigger picture role digital marketplaces have in our economy today.  Digital marketplaces have transformed numerous industries, such short-term accommodations, local transportation, collectibles and many more.  In the process they have made buying goods and services more efficient and provided income for millions of people.  They are also often key stakeholders in the communities in which they operate and can have a significant community footprint.  Taken together, these factors suggest marketplaces have an important role in our economy today, which this blog will hopefully illuminate.   

Thank you for reading The Marketplace Economy blog! I encourage your feedback on the ideas I and other contributing authors have put forward.