1/ new essay: What's next for marketplace startups? Reinventing the $10 trillion service economy, that's what. Co-authored with @ljin18 https://t.co/fgKbrHTnH5. A short thread 👇

2/ Marketplace startups have done incredibly well over the first few decades of the internet, reinventing the way we shop for goods, but have been less successful services. It's bc services are complex, subjective, fragmented, and often in real life. Makes it hard
3/ There's been 4 major eras at making the service economy work online. The Listings Era, the unbundled Craiglist era, the Uber for X era, and the Managed Marketplace era
4/ Each era has added more value than the last, and utilized technology innovations, from internet to social / "read/write web" to mobile. The "Unbundling Craigslist" era was particularly epic at generating startup ideas
5/ The problem is, all the low-hanging fruit has been picked off. The techniques that got us to here won't get us to the next phase. So we have to do some pretty different things. That's why "Managed Marketplaces" have been a big deal - hire folks as W-2s, certify quality, etc.
6/ All the learnings from the previous generation of marketplaces will be needed - and more! - to unlock the next phase. Which will be focused on regulated, licensed professions. This is everything from teaching, legal work, healthcare, and more. This represents trillions (!!).
7/ Here's a view of what all of these sectors might look like.
8/ Licensing *really* made sense information asymmetries existed all over the place, between consumers and providers. The taxi medallion meant something. But in a world of real-time info, GPS, user reviews, and mapping - don't we trust their rating more than their medallion?
9/ Feel free to argue about the value of licensing. It's not zero. But it holds back a lot of labor supply and makes the services expensive. Here's a view on the % of workers that require certification/licensing, in a world where it's certainly less useful and maybe just obsolete
10/ If you agree with the premise that you can unlock supply in these markets, then there are 5 key strategies to make this happen: A) Making discovery of licensed providers easier B) Hiring and managing existing providers to maintain quality
11/ Also should include: C) Expanding or augmenting the licensed supply pool. D) Utilizing unlicensed supply. E) Automation and AI. Each one deserves a deep-dive.
12/ There are 125 million Americans who work in the service industry. And we're all consumers of this market. This is a big, big opportunity, and we're excited to be digging in.
13/ Here's the essay so you can read it: https://t.co/fgKbrHTnH5. And shoutout to my co-author @ljin18 who drove most of the writing on this one!

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🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖

Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W


Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela


The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.


One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.


Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"