Ask HN: How to solve the cold start problem for two-sided marketplace?

You need to cheat to kickstart one side1) Incentivize people on one side to join without the other side. For example Uber paid early drivers money just for signing up even though they had no riders.2) You provide one side of the marketplace to kickstart the other side. This would be like Uber hiring drivers in the beginning.This is why starting a two sided marketplace often requires significant capital. They're very hard to start organically.Another thing I'd suggest is to focus on a niche. Don't try to solve the global problem just yet. Maybe you know a lot of people want to transport books between London and Madrid. Just focus on that to get that market healthy, then add another product or location. This helps you focus your marketing. Also if you go global to start you might have 1000 users on both sides but no matches because everyone is too spread out.