Product & Growth · Platform Strategy · Hard · 35-45 min

Launching a Two-Sided Marketplace

Launching a Two-Sided Marketplace is a hard Product & Growth platform strategy case interview that runs 35-45 min. A company wants to launch a two-sided marketplace connecting service providers with customers in a fragmented industry. A strong answer works through 5 phases: Assess whether a marketplace is the right model; Solve the cold-start; Define liquidity; Design monetization (take rate) and defend it against disintermediation (going around the platform); Sequence.

Last updated 2026-09-05

The brief

A company wants to launch a two-sided marketplace connecting service providers with customers in a fragmented industry. The classic problem looms: no buyers without sellers, no sellers without buyers. The board wants to know whether the model works, how to solve the cold-start, and what the path to liquidity and profitability looks like.

How to approach it

  1. Assess whether a marketplace is the right model — fragmentation, frequency, trust gaps it solves
  2. Solve the cold-start — which side to subsidize/seed first, single-geography focus, supply or demand-led
  3. Define liquidity — the metric that signals the marketplace works, and how to reach it
  4. Design monetization (take rate) and defend it against disintermediation (going around the platform)
  5. Sequence — win one geography/segment to liquidity before expanding

What a strong answer does

  • Picks a side to seed first with a clear rationale (usually the constrained side)
  • Focuses narrow — one city/segment to liquidity — before scaling
  • Defines and targets a liquidity metric rather than vanity GMV
  • Anticipates disintermediation and designs to keep transactions on-platform
  • Sets a take rate balanced against the value the platform adds

Red flags interviewers score down

  • Tries to launch both sides everywhere at once
  • Ignores the cold-start / chicken-and-egg problem
  • Sets a take rate with no view on disintermediation risk
  • Measures success on registrations rather than actual transaction liquidity

Cases are written in each firm's style, written and reviewed by working consultants; they are not the firms' own published cases.

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