Melody Nest

Building a marketplace from the ground up.

I co-founded Melody Nest with two partners, building a marketplace connecting creators and music industry professionals.

Starting with an idea, we assembled a 10-person team and developed the product, go-to-market strategy, and growth programs needed to bring the marketplace to life.

Two sides that needed each other.

On one side were independent creators: artists and songwriters who needed producers, engineers, vocalists, and designers to finish their work. On the other were the music industry professionals offering those services, who needed a steady way to find clients.

Melody Nest brought both into one B2B2C marketplace, with vetted professionals so creators could hire with confidence.

Founder first, marketer second.

As a founder, I owned product strategy and positioning. That meant deciding what to build, in what order, and why.

Customer feedback drove the roadmap. I worked directly with our engineers and designers to turn what we heard from creators and professionals into marketplace features, landing pages, and product experiences, from the first version through launch and beyond.

Growth programs we could repeat.

I owned the full lifecycle: acquisition, activation, retention, and monetization. Instead of chasing one channel, we built programs we could run again and again.

A small team doing a lot.

Three co-founders and a team of about 10 engineers, designers, and marketers. I led that cross-functional team, kept product and growth pointed at the same goals, and took on business development and the day-to-day operating work that comes with running a startup.

What it added up to.

Lessons from building it myself.

• Build around what customers tell you. Our best product decisions came from listening to both sides of the marketplace.
• Product and growth are the same job. A growth program can only go as far as the product experience behind it.
• Small teams have to pick their battles. With 10 people, choosing what not to do mattered as much as what we did.
• You learn fastest by shipping. Most of what I know about marketplaces, I learned by launching something and watching what happened.