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Perspective
In this post, we will explain why on-demand marketplaces have a distinct advantage in terms of avoiding disintermediation, maintaining pricing power, and boosting acquisition…
PerspectivePortfolioHow To
Supply-Side Economics
At Menlo, we encourage our companies not to neglect the supply side, as supplier retention is directly correlated to overall platform quality and NPS.
Perspective
Let’s Get Vertical
Within a broad horizontal marketplace, it becomes more difficult to achieve sufficient liquidity, whereas a vertical marketplace immediately brings together buyers and sellers seeking…
Perspective
All About the Rake
It’s simply inevitable that high-flying businesses’ growth rates will moderate over time, as the universe of unaddressed consumers becomes smaller, and each incremental sale…
PerspectivePortfolio
The Only Metric That Truly Matters for a Marketplace Is the Shadow Market
If a marketplace expands into the “shadow market” (or a class of buyers that was previously unavailable to a supplier), then it has the…
How ToPortfolioPerspective
10 Laws of Successful Marketplaces
It has many names: the Sharing Economy, Collaborative Consumption, the On-Demand Economy, and even most recently called by Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Gig Economy.
PortfolioPerspective
Menlo Talks Mergers: A Discussion with Kayvon Beykpour of Periscope
There’s a saying in venture that you’re too early, too early, too early, too late. With Menlo’s investment in Periscope, which was acquired by…
PortfolioFunding
GIF for Messenger(s): Menlo Invests in Riffsy
Messaging has been the primary use case and daily utility on mobile phones long before WhatsApp and Snapchat became household names.
PortfolioFunding
Menlo Marketplaces: Investing in UpCounsel
We are excited to announce today our lead investment in the Series A financing of UpCounsel. This investment continues our strong investment thesis around…
Perspective
Bloomberg Brief Q&A With Venky Ganesan
The sharing economy will be great for consumers, but not so great for the income gap, Venky Ganesan told Bloomberg Brief.
PerspectiveHow To
Focus Your Energies to Solve Big Problems
Cloud, data analytics, and mobility are fundamental venture trends that will continue to offer incredible investment opportunities for venture capitalists.
PerspectiveFirmHow To
Building a Moat in a Bubble: Navigating Today’s Financing Environment
Two weeks ago, the NASDAQ recently topped its all-time high set in March 2000, and today, there are over 50 private “unicorn” companies with valuations…