Inside a Two-Sided Marketplace: Ghosts and Hosts

Two-sided marketplaces have to serve two groups who want different things. HostGhost serves writers (ghosts) and performers (hosts).

Picking a side

The call to action is Start free — pick your side. From the first tap, each person says which role they're joining as, so the product can show them the right tools.

Accounts that follow you

The sign-up screen keeps it short: email and password, or continue with Google. Profiles, bars, gigs and messages stay saved on every device.

Why two-sided is hard, and valuable

Each side is only useful if the other side is there. That makes marketplaces hard to start but valuable once they work. A buyer gets the full structure already built: both roles, matching, alerts and accounts.

See HostGhost.

• MARKETPLACE
• PRODUCT DESIGN
• ACCOUNTS