Lessons learned from a failed online marketplace – an interview with Anton Koval

No online marketplace founder or entrepreneur set out to fail. The world loves a romantic success story where a disruptive idea changes how we look at an entire industry. Two examples that immediately come to mind are Airbnb and Uber.

Yet, 90% of startups fail, which is something we don’t talk about enough.

Failure may not be glorious in itself, but it’s an important ingredient for success. From failure comes learning, and hearing the mistakes of other marketplaces can be very useful to followers looking to avoid the same pitfalls.

Learnings from a failed online marketplace

Anton Koval founded Brainjobs.pl, a failed online marketplace. Today, he’s moved on and is helping founders and companies build and grow their own online marketplaces through his agency, Braincode.

We caught up with him to hear the story of his failed online marketplace, what went wrong, and the lessons he learned from the experience.

Part 1

In the first part of the interview, Anton shares the business idea, USP, and operational setup.

Part 2

In part two, Anton shares what went wrong, the actions they took to turn it around, and the main lessons he took with him from the experience.

Anton Koval

Anton is the founder of Braincode, an agency that helps founders and companies build their own online marketplaces. Previously, Anton bootstrapped his own marketplace in the HR-Tech area. Anton is a big advocate of the platform economy and remote work.

Share this article