founding team at Backpack(yc) here! we solved this by starting with demand. get real orders first, then solve fulfillment. if we had no traveler that matched t

founding team at Backpack(yc) here! we solved this by starting with demand. get real orders first, then solve fulfillment. if we had no traveler that matched the route/timing, one of us would literally take the flight. not scalable, but early on that’s not really the problem. one of the thing that matters in this model: traveler supply has a different clock than demand. people usually know their trips weeks ahead, so having them in the funnel helps. but I still wouldn’t wait for perfect supply coverage before testing whether senders are really there. in the early days, you’re not really a marketplace. you’re just making the service work by hand. happy to chat if useful.