Busting Marketplace Growth Myths: SidelineSwap CEO Shares Why the Grind Never Stops

The Breakout Growth Podcast

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Brendan Candon, Co-Founder and CEO of SidelineSwap, an online marketplace for sporting goods.

“Recommerce” is becoming increasingly popular. Reusing, reselling, and recycling used items creates value for buyers and sellers, and the process of trading in and trading up can actually be kind of fun. Brendan and his team have leaned into this by making it easy for athletes, parents, and coaches to find new homes for gear that might otherwise languish in their closets or end up in landfills.

Recently Brendan and his co-founders raised money through DSG Ventures (Dick’s Sporting Goods’ venture fund), and we learn how this strategic partnership has unlocked a unique growth channel. By bringing used gear to Sideline Swap Trade-in events, held at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores across the US, consumers can get paid instantly with gift cards, which they can then use to buy new gear in the store.

Not only does this build inventory for the online marketplace, but it also introduces new audiences to the platform. It’s this kind of thinking that has helped SidelineSwap compete and grow in a world dominated by large incumbents like Craigslist and eBay.

Brendan tells the story from the very beginning when the idea was born after he bought used lacrosse gear from a friend. He describes the constant work to learn and grow, and the grind and discipline it has taken to build the business into a top-100 marketplace according to Andreessen Horowitz.

So jump into this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast and learn about the amazing growth journey of SidelineSwap.

We discussed:

* The SidelineSwap backstory: from personal pain point to top-100 marketplace (08:00)

* Focusing on one sport first to win the hard side (11:38)

* Trade-in events, a unique channel to power growth (27:03)

* New opportunities and a win-win with DSG Ventures’ investment (35:04)

*Re-commerce and the power of “being where the customers are” (45:53)

And much, much, more . . .

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit seanellis.substack.com