seed the hard side first
seed the hard side of the market first: experienced suppliers, returns made visible, then open the easy side to followers.
what to do
Every two-sided market has a hard side and an easy side. Seed the hard side first. For a product where people share liquidity strategies, that means starting with experienced LPs, respected market makers, and a few KOLs. Make their returns visible and predictable. The followers come once the hard side is proven and public.
for example
A team building a copy-the-experts liquidity product asked where to start. I pointed them at the smallest set of credible suppliers they could fully support, with results shown out in the open. Andrew Chen calls this seeding an atomic network, the smallest group that makes the product work on its own. Get the hard side dense and visible, and the easy side follows without being pushed.
the failure it prevents
Opening to everyone at once, so neither side finds the other, and the market sits empty while you spend on ads that bounce.
when this doesn’t apply
A single-player tool that is useful to one person alone has no hard side to seed. There, come for the tool and stay for the network, as Chris Dixon put it: ship the solo use first and layer the network on later.