So You Don’t Have Monetization Figured Out!

This is an extension to Show me the Money.

I realized I hadn’t covered  non-transactional businesses or transactional businesses which aren’t yet charging money to either side of the marketplace in much detail. So decided to add to special notes for entrepreneurs building such businesses.

Special Note 1: You don’t have a monetization model – Engagement FTW

This is trickier, but more common for consumer facing companies. If your venture falls into this bucket, I expect you to prove to me how people are spending insane amounts of time on your product i.e rigorous engagement which may tomorrow be monetized through some means. This may be through MAUs, DAUs, time spent on app/website/product etc.

Special Note 2: You have a monetization model figure but aren’t making money yet – Adoption FTW

This is becoming increasingly common these days as companies, despite having a commission/fee structure, choose to pass the same on to the supplier or the consumer in order to increase liquidity on the platform. In this case, be upfront and don’t increase your burden of proof by talking too much about Traction in the deck. But please do have some empirical evidence that the monetization switch, when it gets flipped on, won’t reduce liquidity on the platform.

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