Why I Keep Building Marketplaces

When I started building software, I wasn't trying to become "the marketplace guy."

I was simply trying to solve problems.

But after looking back at the products I've built over the last few years, I noticed something interesting.

I keep building marketplaces.

It wasn't intentional.

It just kept happening.

Justdeal.ng helped people discover the best deals around them. Flextable made it easier to find and book flexible workspaces across Warri, Asaba, and Port Harcourt. Penless connected people with skilled workers in real time across Delta and Lagos. Love & Luxed, a marketplace platform I built for a client in Australia, curating wedding vendors to wedding planners. Then there were several client projects that, beneath different branding and industries, all shared the same foundation.

Every one of them had two groups of people trying to find each other.

Software simply became the bridge.

At some point I had to admit this wasn't a coincidence anymore.

I genuinely enjoy building marketplaces.

One thing I've learned is that marketplaces are deceptively simple.

On the surface they look like listing websites.

Behind the scenes, they're some of the hardest products to build because you're not building for one user you're building for two. And every decision affects both sides.

Over the years, I've found myself running into the same challenges again and again.

When we launched Flextable and I was the Head of Engineering/CTO, I quickly realized something.

You don't solve supply by writing more code.

You solve it by talking to people.

In places like Warri, you don't have thousands of workspace owners waiting to upload their listings. You visit them. You explain the vision. You answer questions. You earn trust. You onboard one space at a time.

The product only starts working because people believe in it before it exists.

That lesson has stayed with me.

One thing building in Nigeria has taught me is that people don't transact because your interface looks beautiful.

They transact because they feel safe.

Whether it's hiring an artisan, booking a workspace, or buying a product online, trust sits underneath every successful interaction.

That's why I've spent more time than people probably imagine thinking about verification, profiles, reviews, payments, identity, and every tiny signal that helps someone feel confident enough to click "Continue."

Sometimes adding one trust signal improves conversion more than adding ten new features.

Creating listings is easy.

Helping people find exactly what they're looking for is the real challenge.

Penless reinforced this lesson for me.

Finding a plumber is one problem.

Finding the right plumber, nearby, available today, with good reviews and reasonable pricing, that's an entirely different product.

That's where good marketplaces separate themselves from directories.

Building products for African markets also changes how you think about payments.

It's not just "connect a payment gateway."

You're thinking about transfers, payouts, delayed settlements, disputes, failed transactions, user expectations, and how money should flow between people who may have never met before.

Those decisions influence the architecture just as much as the user interface does.

Every marketplace eventually asks the same uncomfortable question.

Who comes first?

The buyers?

Or the suppliers?

I've learned that trying to grow everything at once rarely works.

Instead, I prefer starting with one city, one niche, or one specific use case.

Solve that well.

Create momentum.

Then expand.

It's slower than people expect, but it's much more sustainable.

Most of my work has been focused on Nigeria and, increasingly, Africa.

I think that's where some of the most interesting marketplace opportunities exist.

So much of our economy already works.

It's just invisible online.

The artisan who's incredible at what they do but only gets customers through referrals.

The workspace owner with empty desks because nobody knows they exist.

The local business relying entirely on WhatsApp status updates.

These aren't businesses waiting to be created.

They're businesses waiting to be discovered.

That's what excites me.

Technology doesn't always need to reinvent industries.

Sometimes it simply needs to connect people better than before.

I've also learned that you can't blindly copy marketplace playbooks from Silicon Valley.

The principles transfer.

The assumptions don't.

Trust behaves differently.

Payments behave differently.

Logistics behave differently.

Communities behave differently.

Building for Africa forces you to understand people before you understand technology.

And I think that's what makes it rewarding.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what AI means for marketplaces and building products generally.

Not AI as another buzzword.

But AI as infrastructure.

Recently, I was thinking about Flextable and I started experimenting with FlexAgent an AI assistant designed to help with space acquisition and supplier onboarding.

That project convinced me we're only scratching the surface.

I believe AI will fundamentally change how marketplaces acquire supply, match users, verify trust, support customers, and even grow themselves.

That's an area I'm excited to keep exploring.

I don't think I've mastered marketplaces.

Far from it.

Every product has humbled me in different ways.

Some ideas worked.

Some didn't.

Some taught me lessons I couldn't have learned from books or YouTube videos.

That's one of the reasons I started writing more.

Not because I have all the answers, but because I think documenting the journey is valuable for me and hopefully for other builders too.

If you're building a marketplace, especially for Africa, or you're thinking through problems around supply, trust, payments, AI, or product strategy, I'd love to connect.

We're all figuring it out one launch at a time.