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Re: undefined

#151

Post by muzani » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 11:38 PM UTC

leros wrote: post #2

You need to cheat to kickstart one side 1) Incentivize people on one side to join without the other side. For example Uber paid early drivers money just for signing up even though they had no riders. 2) You provide one side of the marketplace to kickstart the other side. This would be like Uber hiring drivers in the beginning. This is why starting a two sided marketplace often requires significant capital. They're ve…

They used to refer to it as "Do things that don't scale" rather than cheating :)

Re: undefined

#152

Post by morkalork » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 11:59 PM UTC

Freak_NL wrote: post #89

dpark wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I missed the “different countries” bit. Hell no. OP, I hope you are on good terms with Trump, because you’re going to need that pardon.

This whole idea is dead on arrival because of this. Most nations actively warn their citizens never to carry packages from someone you don't know, and never to carry packages you didn't pack (or saw opened) yourself even for people you do know. And still people agree to carry sealed packages for someone they had a few nice nights with on holiday before boarding the plane back home. That tends to end in a little room…

Recently:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/exclusive-canadian-tee...

>Jade’s Instagram account suggests she thought she had been hired for a legitimate job as an “international package shipper,” with a salary of $5,000 per trip.

Her recruiter texted her: “We pay your flights, accommodation, food.”

Re: undefined

#153

Post by saaslayouts » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 12:34 AM UTC

[dead]

Re: undefined

#154

Post by raw_anon_1111 » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 1:35 AM UTC

randomguy2026 wrote: post #32

flippyhead wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

All humor and pithy quips aside. The assumed liability is very different. A driver of a commercial courier accidentally transporting an illegal substance is at much less personal risk than an average citizen or small business. I think this match-maker platform should be willing to shoulder more that liability. KYC but for bill of lading as well? While not 1-1 or perfect, AirBnb and TaskRabbit platforms include insura…

A company can’t shoulder liability for a cop pulling them over and arresting them on criminal charges.

Re: undefined

#155

Post by EverMemory » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 1:40 AM UTC

[dead]

Re: undefined

#156

Post by caffedelli » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 2:27 AM UTC

Great discussion! As someone building in the specialty coffee space from Muzambinho, Brazil, I find these topics fascinating.

Re: undefined

#157

Post by vivegi » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 2:44 AM UTC

Platform Scale: How an emerging business model helps startups build large empires with minimum investment, _by Sangeet Paul Choudary_ (Sep 2015)

https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Scale-emerging-business-inve...

This book has various examples of the double-sided marketplace and how they solved the exact _chicken and egg problems_ you are talking about.

Re: undefined

#158

Post by leros » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 3:14 AM UTC

muzani wrote: post #151

leros wrote: post #2

You need to cheat to kickstart one side 1) Incentivize people on one side to join without the other side. For example Uber paid early drivers money just for signing up even though they had no riders. 2) You provide one side of the marketplace to kickstart the other side. This would be like Uber hiring drivers in the beginning. This is why starting a two sided marketplace often requires significant capital. They're ve…

They used to refer to it as "Do things that don't scale" rather than cheating :)

I'd argue setting up a semi-fake version of one side of a marketplace is a little more in the cheating category. Plus it sounds more fun to me :)

But yeah same thing.

Re: undefined

#159

Post by dnnddidiej » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 3:18 AM UTC

I would pick 2 cities and deliver yourselves. Or hire people to do it. Then promote to those 2 cities.

Did I just copy how Uber did it? :) IIRC uber was basically a taxi company to begin with.

Re: undefined

#160

Post by jwitchel » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 3:46 AM UTC

Oh this is one I can answer. I was the co-founder of Prosper an early p2p lending company. Your problem is a relatively easy one.

Go find one or two companies with a lot of packages. Focus on delivering packages whose delivery time is not critical (say 7 days) and whose registered value is low (say $500 or less). Focus on deliveries that are just outside of ubers practical range (say LA to SFO).

Find a bunch of uber drivers who are already reliable. Over pay them to make runs. If they screw it up have them drop the package off at a ups store and over night it as a catch all.

Do 1,000 packages to get your logistics worked out. Don't market or launch or promote until you have it nailed.

Then find 10 more companies with lots of packages. Your goal is to develop profitable routes (e.g. 5 packages per car) and customers who are delivering 1000s of packages a month.

Your pmf is about reliably servicing one geographic region at a time like yelp and LinkedIn did.

Do not try and roll out a national service day one.

Do not focus on people shipping packages. Not enough repeat business.

Do not take high stakes runs day one.

One big advantage is your ability to do small heavy objects. Ups and FedEx are very weight sensitive.