Bastian Lehmann says he never thought of Postmates as a marketplace and warns founders against obsessing over marketplace playbooks. Build a product people like, he argues. If it resonates, the mechanics follow. If it doesn't, the problem is the product, not missing marketplace expertise.
Chapters
If you could go right back to before you started Postmates and in the world of marketplaces, you know, what would you tell yourself about them specifically? I actually, I actually don't, I never thought about it. I never thought about it as a marketplace. I know I'm breaking hearts here and I also don't think that marketplaces is any more meaningful category than anything else. It, look, some people like to put everything needs to fit in a drawer and needs to be neatly labeled. And I think that's, it's overrated. It gives importance to something that shouldn't be. Your goal should be to build a great company and whatever you need to do in order to build a great company, there are certain challenges that you face and you'll have elements sometimes more from one category than from the other. But all these playbooks, they're only there Because you should just tear them apart because they're— if you look back and then there is another breakout company and they did the exact opposite then from anything that was considered to be the gold standard up to that point. I wouldn't worry about it. I would not spend my time thinking about— I just wouldn't think about it. You build something that people like. If people like your product, you'll figure out the rest. If people don't like your product, you need to figure out how you can built something that people like. The, all the operations people in the world, all the, all the marketplace knowledge on the planet does not help you sell your product. It's not likely. It's likely that you're, it's likely because the product is not good, not because you're not an expert at marketplaces. That, that, that, that's my ultimate opinion.
