Dan Hockenmaier is an expert on marketplace strategy and growth. He was previously the Director of Growth at Thumbtack as well as a partner at Reforge, where he co-created the monetization track. Currently, he is the Head of Strategy and Analytics at Faire. In today’s episode, Dan shares the building blocks of a growth model, important considerations when building your growth model, and how to get started. We also chat about retention best practices, the complexity of building a marketplace, the future of marketplaces, and when it makes sense to add a SaaS business to a marketplace, and vice versa.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/developing-a-growth-model-marketplace—Where to find Dan Hockenmaier:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/danhockenmaier• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-hock/• Website: https://www.danhock.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/—Referenced:• Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/• Casey Winters on Lenny’s Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company• Faire: https://www.faire.com/• Dan’s blog post on the future of marketplaces: https://www.danhock.com/posts/the-future-of-marketplaces• Careers at Faire: https://www.faire.com/careers—In this episode, we cover:(00:43) Dan’s background(04:01) What is a growth model?(07:20) The building blocks of a growth model for your own business(10:22) The value in building your own model(11:12) The importance of retention over growth (14:49) Getting started building your model(19:18) The growth model at Thumbtack(20:36) The importance of the early user experience for retention(25:02) Why is a marketplace a good business?(28:23) Health metrics for marketplaces(33:47) Supply and demand, and why you shouldn’t neglect demand(36:23) The role of ROI equations and how to use them(39:16) Why you should tread lightly when working with marketplaces(42:43) Expanding marketplaces(46:50) How marketplaces can add a SaaS offering, and why adding a marketplace to a SaaS business is trickier(49:47) When is there an opportunity to unbundle?(54:43) B2B marketplaces (56:36) What is fragmentation?(58:46) The future of marketplaces—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

This episode of Greymatter is the third in a series of growth discussions featuring Greylock investor Mike Duboe. Lenny Rachitsky, former growth lead at Airbnb, and Dan Hockenmaier, founder of Basis One and former director of growth marketing at Thumbtack, join Mike to share lessons learned when growing marketplaces from startup to scaleup. They discuss how to design a growth org, processes and frameworks around experiments, building growth models, understanding marketplace liquidity, how to think about disintermediation, and parallels between B2C /B2B marketplaces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining Erik on this episode are:- Dan Hockenmaier (@danhockenmaier), founder of Basis One- Casey Winters (@onecaseman), Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite- Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan), former founder as well as former growth PM at AirbnbThey discuss:- How marketplaces have evolved over the last several years.- The trend towards owning more of a user’s experience, and the pros and cons of that approach.- The possibilities for new vertical marketplaces.- Where they would be investing if they were running a fund focused on the space.- Why some of the biggest companies in the space were initially overlooked.- How to think about building liquidity in a marketplace.- Some of the interesting debates in the field, and their takes on them.- The most surprising learnings they’ve had while working in the space.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.