Thumbtack

Lenny's Podcast · Sep 29

How marketplaces win: Liquidity, growth levers, quality, more | Benjamin Lauzier (Lyft, Thumbtack)

Its hardest side was demand, and it jumpstarted supply by posting jobs on Craigslist to pull contractors in. A smoke machine filter for wedding DJs cut out 95% of supply, and direct bookings raised pro ROI about 20% yet pros disliked losing the thrill of the sale.

Tips

• Before product-market fit, ignore marketplace theory and fix one side▶ 8:40Thumbtack posted jobs on Craigslist behind the scenes and pulled the contractors browsing there onto its platform.
• Start with the hardest side of the marketplace▶ 10:29Lauzier says supply is the hardest side maybe 80% to 90% of the time; Rover and TaskRabbit are counterexamples with easy supply.
• Use soft filters that affect ranking instead of hard filters▶ 30:50Only 5% of Thumbtack DJs had a smoke machine, so the filter carved out 95% of supply.
• Coach supply with guardrails first, then add hands-on control for gaps▶ 39:39Thumbtack's move from selling leads to direct bookings promised about 20% better ROI for pros, yet pros hated it because they liked the thrill of the sale.
• Check fragmentation, uniform needs and matching friction before building a marketplace▶ 24:54

Lenny's Podcast · Dec 27

The hierarchy of engagement | Sarah Tavel (Benchmark, Greylock, Pinterest)

It went national across many categories, but low usage frequency made it hard to become a habit. People start at Google when they need a plumber, and the founders admit going broad was probably wrong.

Lenny's Podcast · Nov 9

Marketplace lessons from Uber, Airbnb, Bumble, and more | Ramesh Johari (Stanford professor)

A worker delivered from IKEA handed over a business card after one job, so the platform got just one lead. This illustrates disintermediation.

Tips

• Avoid early pricing commitments that will disintermediate you at maturity▶ 17:50A Thumbtack worker handed over a business card after one job so the customer would not need the platform again.

Lenny's Podcast · Jun 15

Leveraging growth advisors, mastering SEO, and honing your craft | Luc Levesque (Shopify, Meta)

Luc advised it, and as a marketplace with many pages it fits the large-page SEO bucket.

Tips

• Treat SEO as two buckets and match the tactic to each▶ 45:29TripAdvisor, Pinterest, Thumbtack and LinkedIn fit the large-page bucket.

Lenny's Podcast · Dec 1

The ultimate guide to SEO | Ethan Smith (Graphite)

Ethan began consulting with Thumbtack in 2014. Its plumber pages link across cities and services, leaving some never linked, and his team built an internal link algorithm there.

Lenny's Podcast · Oct 13

How to build a high-performing growth team | Adam Fishman (Patreon, Lyft, Imperfect Foods)

Ben Lazier, Adam's early growth hire at Lyft, later became its VP of product.

Tips

• Hire a junior growth person for customer knowledge and execution first▶ 29:08Ben borrowed a Chromebook mid-interview to deploy work at the job he was leaving, which signaled strong execution.

Lenny's Podcast · Oct 9

Developing a growth model + marketplace growth strategy | Dan Hockenmaier

Its first growth model, built with finance, showed extreme sensitivity to repeat rate, so resources moved from top of funnel to cross-sell. It tracked hundreds of niche rivals that rarely gained traction, because its higher LTV won SEM bids. The business grew roughly tenfold in Dan's three years.

Tips

• Shift resources toward retention and lifecycle once a model shows its leverage▶ 16:23Thumbtack's first model, built with finance, led the team to move resources from top of funnel (SEO and conversion) to lifecycle and cross-sell.
• Unbundle a horizontal marketplace only for high frequency or high value self-contained niches▶ 51:06