* Topics * [Guide](/academy/guide/) * [Video course](/academy/marketplace-video-course/) * [The podcast](/academy/marketplace-academy-podcast/) [Subscribe](#subscribe-academy) [Starting a marketplace](/academy/start-a-marketplace/) # 10 marketplace thought leaders you should follow A list of 10 important marketplace thought leaders to follow in this rapidly changing industry. ![Photo of Sjoerd Handgraaf](https://images.prismic.io/sharetribe/b5d11046-2239-4de2-86e6-ce4bc0811fef_sjoerd.handgraaf.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&w=640) [Sjoerd Handgraaf](/author/sjoerd-handgraaf/), CMO Jan 26, 2018Last update Mar 15, 2024 ![Ten marketplace thought leaders every marketplace entrepreneur should follow](https://images.prismic.io/sharetribe/92ff5797-cdf7-433d-b92f-f42d9d9612c3_top-ten-marketplace-thought-leaders-to-follow-for-marketplace-entrepreneurs.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&w=3840) The online marketplace industry is still very young. It is constantly changing and evolving—and as a result, being a part of it is very exciting. Business models, market opportunities, the funding landscape, payment systems, and many other parts of this ecosystem are in a continuous state of flux. In order to remain on top of things, it is a good idea to follow the people who are shaping and analyzing the industry. We have gathered three lists of people to follow along with their active platforms. These lists are, of course, subjective and by no means complete. Many of these people inspired us while we wrote the Practical guide on [how to build an online marketplace](/academy/guide/) and other articles for the [Marketplace Academy](/academy/). Each list represents a perspective on the industry: * [Marketplace investors](/academy/ten-investors-every-marketplace-entrepreneur-should-follow/) * [Thought leaders](/academy/ten-marketplace-thought-leaders-every-marketplace-entrepreneur-should-follow/) * [Founder CEOs](/academy/ten-marketplace-founder-ceos-every-marketplace-entrepreneur-follow/) This is the second list, with marketplace thought leaders. Also have a look at our list of ten important [marketplace investors](/academy/ten-investors-every-marketplace-entrepreneur-should-follow/), and [ten inspiring marketplace founders & CEOs](/academy/ten-marketplace-founder-ceos-every-marketplace-entrepreneur-follow/). So bookmark, follow, add to your feed, or do whatever you deem necessary to stay in the loop with these people. We have collected all the ones mentioned here, in one [Twitter list](https://twitter.com/sharetribe/lists/marketplace-thought). ## Marketplace Thought leaders Online marketplaces, the sharing economy, and collaborative consumption have received a lot of (academic) attention in the past few years. Many people spend a lot of time trying to see beyond the horizon and speculating on the future, sharing their insights with the world. These are a selection of the ten most interesting thought leaders. **Sangeet Paul Choudary** \- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sanguit) | [Quora](https://www.quora.com/profile/Sangeet-Paul-Choudary) | [Medium](https://medium.com/@sanguit) | [LinkedIn](https://sg.linkedin.com/in/sangeetpaul) Marketplace/platform economy expert, author of _Platform Scale_ and _Platform Revolution_ ([website](http://platformthinkinglabs.com/)), and Chair at MIT Platform Strategy Summit. **Rachel Botsman** \- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rachelbotsman) | [Website](http://rachelbotsman.com/) Author of [What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption](https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Mine-Yours-Collaborative-Consumption/dp/0061963542) and an expert on collaborative consumption. **Lisa Gansky** – [Twitter](https://twitter.com/instigating) | [Website ](http://www.instigating.co/)Author of [The Mesh](https://www.amazon.com/Mesh-Why-Future-Business-Sharing/dp/1591843715) and founder of the [Meshing.it](http://meshing.it/) and [Instigating + Co](http://www.instigating.co). She writes a lot about global entrepreneurship and how value is captured and distributed. **Jeremiah Owyang** \- [Quora](https://www.quora.com/profile/Jeremiah-Owyang) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/jowyang) | [Website](http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/) Founder of the [Crowd Companies Council](http://crowdcompanies.com/). He has written a lot about marketplaces and the collaborative economy on his website. **Neal Gorenflo** [Twitter](https://twitter.com/gorenflo) Co-founder of [Shareable](http://www.shareable.net/), a news and connection hub for the sharing community. **Antonin Leonard** [Twitter](https://twitter.com/antoleonard) Co-founder of [OuiShare](http://ouishare.net/), the network and think tank for a collaborative society. **Simone Cicero** \- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/meedabyte) Member of OuiShare and creator of the [Platform Design Toolkit](http://platformdesigntoolkit.com/), a methodology to help model multi-sided, ecosystem-based platform models. **Robin Chase** \- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rmchase) Co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest car-sharing company in the world. She is also the co-founder of Veniam, author of [Peers Inc](https://www.amazon.com/Peers-Inc-Collaborative-Reinventing-Capitalism/dp/1522655824), and a TED speaker. **Arun Sundararajan** \- [Twitter ](https://twitter.com/digitalarun)Professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. His research interests include the sharing economy and crowd-based capitalism. He is the author of [The Sharing Economy](http://s12y.com/). **Trebor Scholtz** \- [Twitter ](https://twitter.com/trebors)Associate professor of Culture & Media at the New School in New York. He is pushing to move _platform cooperativism_ forward and wrote [_Ours to Hack and to Own_](http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/ours-to-hack-and-to-own/). Of course, don’t forget to follow [@Sharetribe](https://twitter.com/sharetribe) on Twitter, where we share the best marketplace-related articles on a daily basis. By signing up for the [Marketplace Academy mailing list](/academy/), you'll also get notified of new content targeted at helping marketplace entrepreneurs succeed with their businesses. If you feel that a crucial marketplace thought leader is missing from our list, please e-mail sjoerd@sharetribe.com. We'll be sure to add them to our next edition of the list. --- ![Photo of Sjoerd Handgraaf](https://images.prismic.io/sharetribe/b5d11046-2239-4de2-86e6-ce4bc0811fef_sjoerd.handgraaf.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&w=640) [Sjoerd Handgraaf](/author/sjoerd-handgraaf/), CMO Jan 26, 2018·Last update Mar 15, 2024 Copy article link ## You might also like... ![Five must read books for marketplace entrepreneurs](https://images.prismic.io/sharetribe/823e7122-60da-42a5-a052-7dcf4a83191a_Five-must-read-books-for-marketplace-entrepreneurs.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&w=3840) Starting a marketplace [Five must-read books for marketplace entrepreneurs](/academy/five-must-read-books-for-marketplace-entrepreneurs/) Our CEO Juho picked the five books he strongly recommends to all marketplace entrepreneurs. by Juho Makkonen ![Boris Wertz on how to Discover Latent Demand. How to build a marketplace with the Marketplace Academy](https://images.prismic.io/sharetribe/c42482b0-700a-4a8f-9fce-2733601eacd6_boris-wertz-discover-latent-demand-how-to-build-a-marketplace-marketplace-academy.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&w=3840) Starting a marketplace [Discover latent demand – An interview with Boris Wertz](/academy/discover-latent-demand-an-interview-with-boris-wertz/) Boris Wertz, the prolific marketplace investor and former COO of AbeBooks, believes there are still many untapped verticals that are ripe for disruption by new marketplace businesses. by Juho Makkonen ![Robin Chase at Ouishare Fest](https://images.prismic.io/sharetribe/1b6ac520-56bc-43da-abbe-232b9c923eb4_RobinChase_interview_cover.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&w=3840) Starting a marketplace [How to find the next big marketplace idea](/academy/how-to-find-the-next-big-marketplace-idea-an-interview-with-robin-chase/) From the stage at Cabaret Sauvage in Paris, Robin is telling the vivid story about how she likes to stay at friends’ houses when she travels. by Thea Sørvig Østbye Start your 14-day free trial ## Create a marketplace today! * Launch quickly, without coding * Extend infinitely * Scale to any size [Start free trial](https://console.sharetribe.com/new) No credit card required [Starting a marketplace](/academy/start-a-marketplace/) [Business model](/academy/business-model/) [Marketing & growth](/academy/marketing-growth/) [Platform technology](/academy/platform-technology/) [Insurance](/academy/insurance/) [The Backstage](/academy/backstage/)