I found all books I can about two-sided marketplaces. Most of the books I found center around their founders’ founding stories. That’s actually better for me, because, who doesn’t love good stories?
They are my personal reading lists.
Books about two-sided online marketplaces
An online marketplace is a platform where product or service information is provided by multiple vendors.
- Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built, by Duncan Clark. This is a book of Jack Ma built Alibaba from scratch. Alibaba is a B2B marketplace.
- The Everything Store, by Brad Stone. This is a book of Jeff Bezos that built Amazon from the beginning of the Internet Age. Amazon is a B2C marketplace.
- Amazon Unbound . Written by: Brad Stone
- Explosive Growth, by Cliff Lerner. This is “a rare behind-the-scenes look inside a fast-growing startup, Snap Interactive, that grew to 100 million users.”. His dating site is a P2P marketplace.
- Super Pumped, by Mike Isaac. This is a book about the rise and fall of hard-charging Travis Kalanick, who built Uber into an iconic unicorn and was ousted by VCs. Uber of course is a B2C marketplace.
- The Airbnb Story, by Leigh Gallagher. This is a book of Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk, Airbnb has disrupted the $500 billion hotel industry. AirBnB is a B2C marketplace.
Books about Network Effect Business
What do two-sided marketplace and social media have in common: they all rely on network effects to thrive.
- Facebook: the Inside Story, by Steven Levy. This is a book of Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook from his dorm room. Facebook can be considered a P2P marketplace.
- Platform Revolution, by Geoffrey G. Parker. Written by three of the most sought-after experts on platform businesses, Platform Revolution is the first authoritative, fact-based book on platform models
- We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin. Reddit can be considered a P2P marketplace.
- No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, by: Sarah Frier. Instagram can be considered a P2P marketplace.
- Blitzscaling, by Reid Huffman. This is a book mentioned how Reid Hoffman blitzscaled LinkedIn and how Blitzscaling can be applied in other marketplace startups.
- The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power, Written by: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer, David B. Yoffie
- Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms. Written by: Richard Schmalensee, David S. Evans
- The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects. Written by: Andrew Chen
Sources
- https://syndicode.com/ruby-on-rails-marketplace-development/13-books-will-make-you-expert-in-online-marketplaces/
- https://twitter.com/andrewchen/status/1027751397293531137
- https://andrewchen.com/marketplace-startups-best-essays/
Willie Jiang is the founder of SolarFeeds and SEO growth hacker. He currently resides in Toronto, Canada. <a href=”https://www.williejiang.com/contact/”>Hire me </a>
