The more deliberate you are in choosing the market you serve first, the more straightforward it will be to address the challenges therein. It’s so tempting to chase supply and demand wherever it comes easiest, but that’s a recipe for blocked transactions. Focus on the formula for growth, not the growth itself.
Consider this: If Uber allowed it’s supply-side (drivers) to focus on wherever traction came quickest, they might have built an incredible network of drivers in Los Angeles (lots of folks with cars). If, at the same time, Uber allowed it’s demand-side (riders) to do the same, they might have turned their attention to NYC (lots of folks without cars). But what good is an LA driver to an NYC rider?
This happens frequently in marketplaces. The easy demand does not match the easy supply. When there is a geographic component to your marketplace (Uber, AirBnB, OpenTable, Voray), management is better off defining a geo on which to focus even if that means passing up easy opportunities. It’s important to recognize those as distractions. Besides, cheap acquisition does not promise cheap retention. That easy win can quickly start looking like a costly liability.