Operation Marketplace Nautical Commerce

On this week’s episode of Operation Marketplace, Niklas talks to Katy Carrigan, CEO of the gifting marketplace, Goody. While Goody started as a mobile app for consumers, it’s now evolved primarily into a business gifting marketplace. Katy talks about this journey, the differences (and similarities) between targetting business buyers vs. consumers, and how they leverage the former to generate demand for the latter.

One thing is clear: Goody does not settle for the status quo. They continue to evolve and unlock new growth opportunities, whether filling product gaps or productizing their marketplace through an open API. 

Katy also sheds light on her journey transitioning into CEO of the company and what she’s learned in the process. 

Episode links: 


Goody’s website


Connect with Katy on LinkedIn



This episode was brought to you by Nautical Commerce— the end-to-end marketplace platform.

In this episode, Niklas sits down with Matt Holder, the Founder of Loop Golf— a booking marketplace for golf course tee times. With two other startups under his belt and experience building well-known marketplaces like Houzz, Zillow, and Trulia, Matt brings a wealth of experience in both marketplaces and entrepreneurship. He shares insights on turning your marketplace idea into reality and the ongoing journey to find product market fit. 

Like many successful marketplaces, the current version of Loop Golf was not the first version. Matt emphasizes the importance of getting started and learning as fast as possible. He advises entrepreneurs to build, launch, and learn quickly, and to be open to iterating and pivoting based on feedback.

Matt also talks about the similarities he’s observed across different marketplaces and the need for transparency and efficiency.

Episode links: 


Loop Golf’s website 
Connect with Matt Holder on LinkedIn

This episode was brought to you by Nautical Commerce— the end-to-end marketplace platform.

On this episode of Operation Marketplace, Olivia Mihaljevic, Co-founder and CEO of LIVD, shares her journey building a B2B benefits marketplace.

Olivia first launched LIVD as a B2C beauty services marketplace to help people find local beauty services in their area. When she and her co-founder realized the unanticipated challenges of the business model, they didn't give up— they pivoted. Now, LIVD has evolved into a B2B fringe benefits platform for employers. She discusses the reasons for the pivot, how she knew it was time to change the company’s business strategy, and the challenges and successes she’s faced along the way.

Olivia also provides insights into hiring and budgeting for marketplace success, making smart coding decisions, how she funds her startup, and the value of failure and learning from mistakes.

Episode links: 


LIVD’s website
Connect with Olivia on LinkedIn

This episode was brought to you by Nautical Commerce— the end-to-end marketplace platform.

In this episode of Operation Marketplace, Niklas Halusa interviews Ryan Moser, VP of Revenue Strategy at ThredUp.

Ryan started at ThredUp over 10 years ago. Since then it's grown to become one of the world's largest online resale platforms for apparel, shoes, and accessories. Ryan shares incredible insights from his experience scaling the platform to the massive, public, managed marketplace that it is today (They’ve processed over 170 million unique SKUs.)

With Recommerce comes unique challenges like single SKU management, authenticating and pricing supply, balancing supply and demand, and more. Niklas and Ryan dive into these challenges, strategies for expansion, and the value of having a strong mission to guide you and your team toward success. 

Episode links: 

Learn more about ThredUp:


ThredUp website
LinkedIn
ThredUp’s 2023 resale report 

Connect with Ryan Moser on LinkedIn

This episode was brought to you by Nautical Commerce— the end-to-end marketplace platform.

In this conversation, Nick Pinkston, the Founder and CEO of Volition, shares the story behind the B2B marketplace and the vision to be the "GitHub of parts."

Nick dives into the complexities of building an industrial parts marketplace, emphasizing the critical nature of curating an expansive product catalog with detailed data. The accuracy and comprehensiveness of Volition’s product data allow them to stand tall beside bigger, horizontal marketplaces like Amazon and Ali Baba.

Their attentiveness to user experience also allows them to build trust with a wide range of use cases, including engineers, purchasers, maintenance personnel, etc. 

Nick and Niklas also discuss the changing role of distributors, the future of B2B buying, what’s in store for Volition this year, and much more.

Learn more about Volition:

govolition.com

Connect with Nick: 

LinkedIn 

Twitter

This episode was brought to you by Nautical Commerce— the end-to-end marketplace platform. 

In this conversation, Nicole Murphy, Co-founder and CEO of Tall Size, discusses her experience building and running a clothing marketplace for tall women.

She emphasizes the importance of involving customers in the development process and being open and vulnerable about the company's progress. Nicole also highlights the differences in running a marketplace compared to other types of businesses, particularly the lack of control over the supply side. Balancing supply and demand is a constant challenge for marketplace operators, and Nicole shares her experience in trying to meet the needs of both sides.

A common theme throughout Nicole’s marketplace journey is the power of understanding and listening to customer feedback. Attentiveness to the needs and pain points of Tall Size’s niche buyer segment — tall women— allows their marketplace to continue to reach new heights. 

Learn more about Tall Size:


Tall Size website
LinkedIn
Instagram

Connect with Nicole Murphy on LinkedIn.

This episode was brought to you by Nautical Commerce — the end-to-end marketplace platform.