Marketplace Trends & Opportunities

6 Mar 2023 · 2 min

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2:05

In this segment, the speaker outlines two primary drivers of new marketplace opportunities. First, shifts in consumer and business trends create demand for niche platforms, illustrated by the rise of Etsy for handmade goods, sneaker resale markets, and the growing focus on climate‑related services. Second, technological advances enable new marketplace models; the speaker cites mobile technology as the catalyst for ride‑hailing services like Uber and Lyft, and highlights Web3, crypto, and blockchain as emerging tools that allow instant, on‑chain settlement of transactions. The overall message is that recognizing evolving trends and leveraging enabling technologies uncovers fresh marketplace opportunities.

Chapters

What are some, I guess, like kind of trends right now or kind of opportunities that you see? Yeah, so I think there's always 2 things where new marketplace opportunities emerge, right? The first one is just a shift in consumer or business trends, right? Think about handmade goods, right? Opened up the Etsy opportunity. There were high-end made goods before, but at some stage it was like a much bigger interest. Another great example for that is sneaker marketplaces, right? I mean, like sneakers had been around, but at some stage it became a really big trend, right? And so it obviously opened up the opportunities for creating a marketplace around it, right? And so consumer trends and something that becomes more important, more interesting, Is is is one great thing. Hatch for climate is another one. Like in kind of climate suddenly becoming more important, more on the business side than the consumer side. But I think the second thing is then what do new technologies enable? Right? And I mentioned before mobile really unlocked lots of the services marketplaces, and Uber and Lyft couldn't have been possible without mobile. Or at least it was suddenly a magical experience and it wouldn't have been beforehand. Right. And, you know, I think right now in terms of technology, I felt like one of the most interesting ones, I mentioned that before, is kind of Web3 crypto blockchain of kind of suddenly creating marketplaces that have an immediate execution on the blockchain where you know, 2 people can transact and buy and sell assets through the blockchain with kind of an immediate settlement of the transaction and nothing that needs to happen after it.