Become the platform first.

If you have an idea for an online business but you don't have the funds to build the platform or if you are not sure if the idea would work, then something Ive seen help get me started was to "become the platform".

Many years ago, I had this idea for a platform connecting top-tier Indian freelancers with global brands. Instead of spending six months building a marketplace, I put up a landing page:

For Companies: "Access India's top 2% freelancers"

For Freelancers: "Start your next project in 48 hours"

Didn't mention anything about a platform or automation. Just the outcome.

Got three interested brands in the first month through some word of mouth marketing and references.

Here's where it gets interesting: Instead of showing them a platform, we became the platform.

I manually sourced freelancers & personally vetted their work. I made the connections. Handled the logistics. Managed the relationships.

Yes, it took more effort (arguable) than a platform would. But I learned things no amount of market research could teach:

• How brands actually evaluate freelancers

• What makes them trust a freelancer

• Common friction points in communication

• Payment and timeline expectations

• Real reasons projects succeed or fail

  
  

Each manual connection revealed something about what the platform needed to solve. Real problems, not assumed ones.

By month three, had enough data to know:

• Which features actually mattered

• What could stay manual

• Where automation would help most

• What clients would actually pay for

Most importantly: Had paying clients before writing a line of code.

Post this, I confidently invested the money we earned into one developer who worked with me to build out the product.

This approach works for nearly any marketplace idea:

• Want to connect chefs with dinner parties? Be the concierge first

• Planning a B2B services platform? Start as a consultancy

• Building a hiring tool? Begin as a recruiting agency