Everything Marketplaces reposted this
Co-Founder & CEO @ Skyfarer Academy | Educational Management | Growth & Operations | Strategic Planning | International Development | M.Ed.
Been studying EdTech marketplace models. Today, I joined a group chat with Amir Nathoo, co-founder of Outschool, organized by Mike Williams Everything Marketplaces, and I wanted to share my 6 key takeaways. 1. Scrappy Beginnings In its earliest days, outschool operated with a small team, focusing on community-based growth and building trust with targeted groups. Amir emphasized that marketplaces require a mix of scrappy experimentation and scalable strategies. 2. Early Success Factors Outschool benefited from familiarity with video conferencing tools like Zoom, which created a technical advantage and reduced barriers for adoption. While they initially expected challenges with user support and technical learning curves, children quickly adapted to live video learning. The focus then shifted to scaling live online learning—extremely hard, but they approached it with a clear value proposition and differentiation. 3. Growth Engines Amir identified two key techniques for growth: - Building Growth Loops: Early paid growth loops (like Facebook Lookalike Ads) became effective once they had 1,000+ users, driving rapid customer acquisition with favorable CAC:LTV economics. - Positioning for Tailwinds: During COVID-19, Outschool’s broad subject and age range offerings enabled them to grow 15x in 2020, while most EdTech companies grew 3x. 4. Marketplace Complexity Marketplaces are harder to build because supply and demand growth must happen in parallel. Unlike traditional product development, where you focus on building a polished, lovable product first, marketplaces require you to grow supply and demand simultaneously while also improving the user experience. 5. The Need for Breadth in Marketplaces Outschool initially chose to go broad across subjects and age ranges to serve users effectively, despite criticism that this approach looked unfocused. Investors often challenged their decision to operate with such breadth, but being too narrow in a marketplace stifles liquidity, which is critical for success. Amir’s lesson here is "Stick to your guns"—even when decisions seem counterintuitive. Building a marketplace requires a deep understanding of the specific dynamics within your niche—something only the founders can fully grasp early on. 6. Personalization and Scale Challenges Marketplaces face a “scale disadvantage” because growing supply can overwhelm users. Outschool focuses on improving search, reviews, and discovery tools, and using AI to enhance personalization for better matching between students and teachers. I'm refreshing Skyfarer Academy's roadmap this month, so please share great reflections from the EM group chat. #marketplace #edtech Lee Pichette Dimitriy Masterov Al Jairazbhoy Amelia Charles Alex Lopes Daniel Sorochkin Kimberly Green Molly Morse Kamilah Harrison, MBA Audrey Vance Jonathan Toler Nooah R.