Thomas Plantenga & Alex Taussig: Vinted CEO's Ultimate Guide to Scaling Marketplaces | E1114

Thomas Plantenga is the CEO @ Vinted, one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in the world with a valuation of $4.5BN. Prior to becoming CEO, Thomas worked with a range of organisations including Bookaboat, OLX, Sellit/Wallapop and FJLabs. Alex Taussig is a General Partner @ Lightspeed and co-leads the fund's Consumer investment team. Alex's portfolio includes the likes of All Day Kitchens, Archive Resale, Daily Harvest, Faire, Found, Frubana, Keychain, Kikoff, Vinted, YaySay, and Zola. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:53) Becoming CEO of Vinted (06:08) Impact of Business Model Change (08:36) Alex's Involvement & Expansion Plans (11:54) Thomas's Role as CEO (12:59) Vision for Vinted's Growth (15:17) Competition & Market Positioning (16:57) Entering New Markets (19:32) Challenges & Failures in Expansion (21:54) Retaining Sellers & Market Maturity (30:03) Competition with Fast Fashion Retailers (34:21) Breadth vs. Depth in New Markets (35:22) Time to Profitability in Each Region (37:59) Getting the Efficient Frontier Wrong (38:32) Importance of Accurate Projections & Cohort Analysis (41:47) Complexity of Customer Acquisition Costs (45:34) Determining Attractive Markets (50:20) Government Collaboration & Relations (01:01:33) Debunking the Rule of 40 (01:05:45) The Flaw in EBITDA Margin Optimization (01:17:36) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today's Episode with Thomas Plantenga & Alex Taussig: 1.The CEO Who Did Not Want to be CEO: How did Thomas come to be CEO @ Vinted? Why did he not want the job at first? What does Thomas know now that he wishes he had known when he started? 2. The Mechanics of the Fastest Growing Marketplace: What is the single most important metric for Vinted? How does Vinted determine what market to open next? What do they look for? How does Vinted think about depth vs breadth in each country? What is the AOV today? How does it vary by country? How long does it take for each country to be cash flow positive? 3. The Biggest BS in Startups: Rule of 40 and EBITDA: Why does Thomas think VC's obsession with "Rule of 40" is BS? Why does Thomas believe EBITDA optimization is BS and useless? What are the hardest elements of scaling a marketplace that no one knows? 4. The Bull, Bear and Investor Approach to Vinted: Alex, what was Lightspeed's pre and post-mortem when investing in Vinted? How does Lightspeed analyze TAM and market sizing when investing? What was Lightspeed's single biggest concern when investing in Vinted? 5. Europe: A Hub of Innovation or a Retirement Home: Does Thomas believe that European young people have a worse work ethic than those in the US? Is Thomas concerned by the state of regulation hampering innovation in Europe? What can be done to improve work ethic and the state of regulation today? Why is Alex and Lightspeed more bullish than ever on Europe today? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Vinted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vinted Follow Alex Taussig on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ataussig Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #harrystebbings #20vc #venturecapital #business #podcast #youtuber #vinted #onlineshopping #thomasplatenga #alextaussig #founderstories