A marketplace is only as good as its best participants
Supply and demand existing is not enough. A marketplace only works if the best participants find enough value to stay.
Every supply-demand problem has participants on both sides who can function perfectly well without a marketplace.
The best freelancers already have inbound work. The best candidates are already being pursued. The best creators often have brands approaching them directly. In many cases, the “cream” on both sides is struggling with too many options, not access.
This matters because marketplaces often assume the core problem is same across participants on one side. No.
A marketplace becomes valuable only if it can convince these “best” participants that it is worth showing up. The experience has to be better than their existing inbound.
If that does not happen, the marketplace starts filling up with participants who are there because they have no better alternatives. A supply side that is rejected by the demand in market, and a demand side that not many in the market wants to serve.
That initiates a downward spiral - the quality drops. And the best participants avoid it even more.
Supply and demand existing is not enough. The real question is whether the best on both sides have a reason to participate.