Mobile Apps For Both Sides Of The Market

In the web era, if you had a two sided marketplace, you had one app that served both sides of the market.

In the mobile era, it seems that it is better to have different native mobile apps for both sides of the market.

Ridesharing and delivery companies like our portfolio companies Hailo and Sidecar have apps for the rider/buyer and apps for the driver.

Etsy has the buyer focused Etsy app and the Sell On Etsy app.

And yesterday our portfolio company SoundCloud launched Pulse, their creator app, on Android.

This requires more development and marketing resources for each side of the market, yet another reason why building a business in the mobile era is harder, more complicated, and more expensive.

But it sure feels like this is how you have to do it. I’ve seen folks try to put both sides of the market in a single mobile app and it doesn’t work that well.