Marketplaces Achieve Network Effects From Trust

A Conversation with EJ Lawless for the HR Tech GTM podcast

‍

‍

EJ: Does this create any network effects, as you sell into lawyers? Obviously if they

want to, they can go start their own practice and use Lawtrades. Do you see that

happening?

‍

Raad: That's an interesting question. We've actually had people in both ways. We have

had people on the supply side get hired by a company and become the GC there who

then use Lawtrades to hire another team of remote freelancers. There's definitely

network effects from a traditional platform perspective.

‍

The more talent and supply side you have, the faster matches the better experience

and all of that. Even on the customer side it's a very referral driven industry. You're

not going to be able to sell to general counsels via a LinkedIn ad or a cold email.

‍

That helps for little bit of brand awareness, but it really is word of mouth driven.

So for us, getting a couple of customers and making them really happy and

exceeding all of their expectations in terms of price, in terms of quality, in

terms of product experience, and really blowing them away led to a lot of our

growth because they went around and told all their friends- and their friends

told their friends.

‍

That's why a lot of our focus is on community building through virtual events and

in-person events. Not only is it fun to hang out with your customers and grab a drink

with them, but it adds more fuel to the fire in terms of spreading via word of mouth.

‍

The same thing happens on the talent side. If somebody gets on the platform and

they get hired and land an amazing gig- they tell their friends about it. LinkedIn

is our main platform.

‍

So we see people posting about us from a talent perspective-

‍

This was amazing. It was life changing. And so much better than the traditional

staffing model or so much better than working at a Big Law firm.

‍

People take note of that and then apply themselves. They'll often share different

opportunities with their friends if it wasn't a fit for them. I think for these very vertical

marketplaces, it really is important to provide an amazing experience for both sides

because they're the ones that are going to drive most of your growth.

‍

It's not a SEO play. It's not an ad-words play. It really is just brick after brick- building

community, gaining trust, and then giving them the tools to go out there and

spread the word.