Missed part 1? Click here!

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Welcome back!

This is Ty Wolfe-Jones & I’s new, special season of The Daily Marketer, where we’ve spoken with over a dozen marketplace leaders & pioneers from Uber, Convoy, Bellhop, Doordash, Rover, as well as rising stars, so to gather proven blueprints, hacks & tactics to growing a marketplace. Enjoy!

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Ty Wolfe Jones is a marketplace leader, guru, operator spending most of his career in the startup, tech industry.

Ty comes from an entrepreneurial family, spending his childhood & teens in the cotton fields of Tulare (TO-LARRY), California, patching tires of 40 foot tall tractors, 2 miles deep in a field cresting @ sunset.

Fast forward to “young, reckless cowboy Ty” and we find him operating in the enhanced drink industry, becoming 1 of the 1st founding members of Zipfizz, Cha Dao Tea, PHIX, and Nuun.

After a stint here, he entered the world of startups and worked at well-known names like Tango Card, Uber, & Doordash. 

A lover of the northwest, a fine scotch whisky & cigar, over the course of 10 years Ty’s scaled early-stage marketplaces as “The Operations Guy”, expanded into new markets @ Uber & Doordash, and forged teams, pioneered relationships, & pushed boundaries

This conversation was a hoot, Ty is a truthsayer, direct as nails, and a fountain of marketplace stories, making him a delight as a partner on this turbine journey into marketplace pandemonium. 

Did you know Ty has a personal cigar room? Think of a sauna, but just for smoking the Earth’s most magnificent stogies

This episode is particularly valuable for anyone who’s an Operations Manager or works in any level of Support @ a marketplace or fledgling tech startup. Ty has the answers, if you have the questions!

Please help grow the show with us…by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

Without further ado, enjoy this colorful conversation with Ty Wolfe Jones!

Show Notes

• Was DoorDash supply constrained? [1:18]
• Was supply constraint ever a major problem? [4:07]
• How many deliveries did you do? [5:46]
• How did DoorDash generate demand? [6:19]
• Who were the competitors? [8:01]
• How do you make DoorDash valuable or interesting to a driver, who has options? [8:40]
• Why delivering on the Eastside of Seattle, was a critical move [10:32]
• What was the hair prop that resonate with DoorDash drivers? [11:12]
• What is Wrench? [12:35]
• So services like oil change, changing breaks, and changing tires? [13:36]
• Where did Wrench start? Where did it go next? [14:10]
• How did you come to a “launch” model? [14:51]
• How would you gin up demand? [17:53]
• Were there often repeat customers? [18:54]
• How data on certain kinds of cars, lead to great marketing [20:11]
• How did you all operationalize, before scaling? [21:39]
• Getting feedback from mechanics was important before AND during scaling [25:07]
• What’s an example of a company with a fleet? [25:45]
• Why feedback loops and paying attention is critical for scaling [27:54]
• After almost 8 years in marketplaces, what commonalities and patterns do you see? [28:21]
• How conversion rate varies per company [29:40]
• What are the 3 types of conversion rates to focus on in a startup? [31:13]
• Rapid mayhem questions! [30:46]
• Where can we find you? [36:14]
• Any asks of the audience before you go? [37:10]

Links from Episode

• Connect with Ty: LinkedIn | Instagram |  Website
• What is a mailer
• What is an awareness campaign
• Bite Squad
• Caviar
• Postmates
• Wrench
• What is demand generation
• What is referral marketing
• What is a Chevy Camaro
• Wrench mechanics
• What is conversion rate
• Uber
• Handy
• TaskRabbit
• Ty’s Instagram

What marketplace lesson did you learn in this episode? Comment below 🙂