🃏How to Launch a Marketplace in No Time & Scale It Like Crazy
The Sharetribe team breaks it down for you
Picture this: cutting down 90% of the time and costs traditionally associated with marketplace building, all without compromising on customization and scalability.
Sharetribe is the fastest no-code online marketplace builder known to humanity. It lets you kickstart your marketplace without the hassle of coding in a single day and then extend it infinitely with custom code, ensuring your marketplace evolves as your ambitions grow and your business scales.
Join us as we uncover how Sharetribe is pushing the boundaries of the online sales economy in its mission to redefine how we sell and thrive in the digital age.
Plus, learn how you can use Sharetribe's marketplace builder to launch quickly, extend infinitely, and scale efficiently.
Sharetribe's History
Sharetribe's journey traces back to 2008 when Antti Virolainen, Co-founder & CFO, and Juho Makkonen, Co-founder & CEO, started building their first online marketplace. At some point, the founders integrated user feedback on the need to use Sharetribe's technology for their unique marketplace concepts.
In 2014, Sharetribe launched the first software solution, Sharetribe Go, which made it possible for anyone to launch an online marketplace in a single day without any coding skills.
Whether one wants to create an “Uber for dog walkers”' or an “Airbnb for music studios,” Sharetribe’s mission is to democratize the marketplace creation process. With Sharetribe, even those without a technical background can turn their concepts into fully functional platforms with unprecedented speed and ease.
After starting with a no-code-only product in 2014, Sharetribe launched Sharetribe Flex in 2018. It was a developer-first product allowing users to tap into APIs for swift marketplace creation with a focus on frontend code. The latest iteration, introduced in October and officially launched in January, seamlessly combines these two concepts.
In 2018, the Sharetribe’s team adopted a steward-ownership structure, putting control firmly in the hands of the dedicated working team: The company can't be sold or taken public. It will never pay dividends to shareholders. Instead, its profits will be used to advance the company’s mission of democratization of platform ownership.
In January 2024, Sharetribe combined the best of Sharetribe Go and Sharetribe Flex into one product, called simply Sharetribe. It allows launching a marketplace in one day without coding, but it also allows for infinite extensibility through custom coding using the developer platform.
How Sharetribe Works
Sharetribe enables the easy launch of a marketplace without coding through a simple setup wizard. The platform provides essential components for a two-sided marketplace, accommodating multiple buyers and sellers with user accounts, a search engine, and a payment system.
The payment processing automatically splits payments between sellers and the marketplace, allowing monetization through commissions. Sharetribe also includes a review system and many other marketplace features.
The developer platform offers an extensible data model for users, listings, transactions, and providing APIs for customization, empowers users to build customized frontends while the backend handles the heavy lifting.
The transaction engine supports complex processes, allowing users to model their specific workflows.
Sharetriber’s Tech Stack
Sharetribe's latest product combines the no-code approach with a developer-first platform. If the user seeks customization, he or she can modify the code base using the open-source single-page application built with React and Node.js.
This approach enables fast marketplace development and the flexibility to modify the code or extend features as needed. It’s based on the understanding that all companies, especially those with ambitious and scalable products, will eventually require custom software development.
When adding new features to their Sharetribe platforms, developers extend functionalities first, followed by a layer of no-code configurations for common settings in the back end. The underlying technology stack includes Clojure and ClojureScript, along with a Datomic database, though the specifics of the stack are not exposed to customers. Instead, users connect to Sharetribe's APIs for seamless integration and customization.
Integrating User Feedback
Focusing on customer problems and evolving solutions is a strategy that has allowed Sharetribe to remain competitive in a dynamic market.
The company actively engages with users through multiple channels. Customers, building their platforms with Sharetribe, share insights directly through emails. The Slack community of more than 2000 developers hosts discussions on optimization and best practices. The developer advocate team, made up of experienced developers, interacts regularly with users to understand their challenges and needs. The expert network, consisting of certified agencies and freelancers, offers real-world insights based on extensive project experience.
Sharetribe aggregates this feedback, prioritizing features based on recurring themes and common concerns. This dynamic feedback loop ensures Sharetribe remains responsive to user needs, evolving to meet the priorities of its community.
What’s Next
With the recent launch of its new product, Sharetribe is now focused on iterating and enhancing the no-code experience. Building upon its developer-first foundation, it aims to strengthen the no-code capabilities letting users create diverse and advanced marketplaces. Sharetribe recognizes the efficiency of no code for validating business ideas and aims to empower entrepreneurs in this process.
The company’s vision is to support niche marketplaces, specialized in specific verticals, capturing segments of larger platforms' markets. It anticipates a future where numerous transactions occur on niche marketplaces powered by Sharetribe, contributing to a decentralized and diverse marketplace ecosystem globally.
☝️Hey, marketplace rocket scientist! Have you considered sharing us with someone you know? The time is now, the future is stepping on our toes! 🤖
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