TWiST Live! Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta on optimizing consumer experience, fundraising tips | E1010

Jason Calacanis chats with Marco Zappacosta, one of his earliest investments and the founder of Thumbtack. They discuss the evolution of Thumbtack from 2010 to 2019, the impact of the gig economy on US employment, and the challenges of institutional fundraising for startups. Marco also shares insights on building a successful marketplace and offers advice to his 2010 self.

Speakers

AI Chat

Unidentified

Unidentified

Jason Calacanis

Host • 35%

Marco Zappacosta

Guest • 64%

Chapters

0:00	Opening
0:52	Jason intros TWiST Live guest and one of his first investments Marco Zappacosta & Marco describes how they met in 2010
2:28	What did Thumbtack look like back in 2010? How has it changed in 2019?
6:09	Dealing with regional price differences
7:58	How much has mobile demand increased since starting Thumbtack?
11:53	What was it like running a startup in 2010 vs. 2019?
14:38	Impact of starting Thumbtack 2 weeks before Lehman Brothers went out of business
15:43	How did Marco's first try at institutional fundraising go? What did he learn from a bad investor experience?
23:13	What should founders optimize for during fundraising?
27:50	What drove growth at Thumbtack? How did they reach $10M in revenue? How did they remain focused on digging after striking oil?
31:56	Focusing on output over input
35:07	Transforming the Thumbtack experience after hitting $100M in revenue
44:33	What has Marco learned about building a marketplace over the past decade?
52:22	How has the gig-economy impacted overall employment in the US?
56:59	What is private/public healthcare's impact on entrepreneurship in a society?
1:02:33	How is Thumbtack dealing with the scarcity of trade workers?
1:04:41	What advice would Marco give himself in 2010?
1:07:16	Thoughts on minimum wage?

Transcript

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