Here is a short guideline
to building your future successful online marketplace:
1. The Idea
The internet is flush with
what seemed like great ideas but were not properly vetted and thus failed. (How
many apps do you have on your phone now that you never use? ...Exactly.) You
need to know your target audience well and the study supply and demand in this
area.
Assuming you have a good
idea for a marketplace a good rule of thumb to start with is "Would you
use it yourself and if so, how often?" If you cannot honestly say you
would use it often enough that once scaled it would be profitable, you need to
realign your offering or abandon ship now before you burn through your friends'
and family's money. If you are confident that you are, in fact, on to something
big enough that you won't need to hide from Uncle Harry when he asks how his
investment is going, then proceed.
2. Co-thinkers/co-founders
You can omit this step if
you already have a team or if you decided to build everything on your own. But
if you do need a partner—choose very carefully. This person should be really
involved and share your point of view on the core issues. If you need technical
cofounder, try these services founderdating.com , cofounderslab.com.
3. Detailed business plan.
A well done business plan
includes:
·
General
information: description of the business, market description, main competitors
description
·
Sales
and marketing plan: promotion, advertising, distribution, pricing
·
Operating
plan
·
Timetable
and action plan
·
Summary:
brief summary on the project, financing required
·
Financial
plan, including cash-flow budget.
4. Tech team
While finding a seasoned
(available) top developer is not easy, putting together the right mix of
developers is a really BIG deal. It’s a talent in and of itself. Get it wrong
and it will cost you dearly. We finally have our dream team together but it was
a serious process. Because we work with start-ups, it was critical to get
top-notch people who are both talented and creative/flexible. The payoff has
been great though. Team compatibility has created a true lean mean machine
allowing us to be very flexible in tackling all kinds of development projects.
It's definitely something I think more people should inquire about before
hiring a development team.
5. Wireframe
This can make or break you.
If you don't get it right from the start, you will be plagued with costly work
arounds, rebuilds, and the like.
A. You must know your
market and how you see the user experience being must be clear.
B. Then you need to work
with a pro info architect who specializes in marketplace development.
The wireframe serves as
your requirements doc. NOW is the time to nail down the details. It is a lot
easier to erase a line on a blue print of a skyscraper before it is built than
it is to move the building 1" to the left after it's built. Do your moving
now before the programming starts. Trust me on this one.
6. Funding
While filling out the
profile is no small task, you realize in the doing of it that what they ask is,
in fact, important you have lined up before asking for money. Once you have
done that you can leverage your answers to go to other funders.
7. Development phase
Depending on the option
(off-the-shelf or custom built platform) you choose it may take 1 week – 12
months of development, with Campus On Fire it will only take 2-3 months.
8. The Launch
After you have tested and
QA'd the site and are confident that it is ready for prime time, it's time to
leave the development site and it live.
9. User acquisition
And you thought building
the marketplace was the hard part. ;) While now is the time to acquire the
users, you want to start planning for this during the first phases of
development so that you can hit the ground running on launch day.
10. Success!
It's a process more than a
destination. You want to watch user behavior, listen to their feedback—both
those who love it but especially those who don't and look for opportunities to
iterate and make it the best damn marketplace in the space!
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