At Version One, we love marketplaces. Just look at our portfolio, and you’ll understand how important we think marketplaces are to the future of commerce. Over the past year, we have focused much of our blog content on helping marketplace founders build their companies. That’s because we realized that while there is a lot of great information for tech startups, not much of it deals specifically with marketplaces. And anyone building a marketplace company knows that marketplaces face unique challenges – including how to solve the chicken and egg problem with supply and demand and how to monetize when services are delivered offline. To that end, we put together a handbook, A Guide to Marketplaces. It compiles many of the insights we’ve learned from working with great marketplace companies and analyzing the industry. We hope the handbook helps you in your own journey to break down walls in how goods and services are bought and sold. There’s no single way to build and scale a marketplace, but the book can help you figure out your own path to build supply and spark the virtuous circle of supply and demand. Lastly, we’d love to hear if you find the content useful. What should we expand on? Did we leave anything out? Please leave a comment below or reach out to us directly.

Welcome to the nation. Welcome to the place where everything is monitored... everything is portioned... everything is perfectly under control... Everything except the SkyTrain Holland Renner was aboard. In a matter of seconds, Holland finds herself in a world she didn't know existed. Before, she was free within limits. Now, she's one of 400 others. Before, Holland was at least human. Now, she's not so sure. All she knows is that she needs to endure and survive. But what does this have to do with SkyTrain 267-B? Click the "Start Reading" button to uncover the secrets buried within the core of Holland's society. WATTY AWARD WINNER 2015!

The official-unofficial sequel to THE SUPERVILLAIN AND ME! (SPOILERS inside for those who haven't read the first book! The first 5 chapters of book 1 can be found on my profile, as well as links to order a finished copy from any of your favorite retailers!)

[EXCERPT - FIRST 5 CHAPTERS] THE FULL BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE IN STORES AND ONLINE! Never trust a guy in spandex. In Abby Hamilton's world, superheroes do more than just stop crime and save cats stuck in trees - they also drink milk straight from the carton and hog the television remote. Abby's older brother moonlights as the famous Red Comet, but without powers of her own, following in his footsteps has never crossed her mind. That is, until the city's newest vigilante comes bursting into her life. After saving Abby from an attempted mugging, Morriston's fledgling supervillain Iron Phantom convinces her that he's not as evil as everyone says - and that their city is under a vicious new threat. As Abby follows him deeper into their city's darkest secrets, she comes to learn that heroes can't always be trusted, and sometimes it's the good guys who wear black.

He was a billionaire, I was a bellboy, can I make it anymore obvious? It all started one fateful afternoon in summer of 2012. I was working as a bellboy at the Trump Hotel in Hong Kong on an internship program. This was my first time in a big city. It was all I could have ever dreamed of, and more. But little did I know, it was all about to change. Follow me on twitter.com/aguywithnolife Please note, this story may contain mature humor that isn't suitable for all ages.

After discovering two aliens trying to milk a cow in his Grandfather's barn, fourteen year old Luke Summers is abducted. Scared out of his wits, he soon discovers that the aliens, Simon and Leonidas, aren't planning to probe him... huge relief. Instead, after injecting Luke with nano-translators so he can understand them, they tell him that his parents, both astronauts who were pronounced dead during a failed mission to Mars, are still alive... and they need his help to rescue them from an evil spider-alien dictator named Drac Moor. There's just one itsy bitsy catch. Luke will first need to be "reconditioned" so that he can withstand the harsh alien atmospheres that he'll be subjected to. Oh... and it's probably going to hurt a little. Follow along as Luke stumbles through one disaster after another, in an attempt to pull off a daring prison break and free his parents before it's too late.

my system is clogged with metaphor and i need to get it out A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY (!) nb: if lack of capitalisation and 'artistic' punctuation don't tickle your pickle, apologies but this book is not for you [working title] probable swearing... you have been warned one more thing: don't steal my shit or i will hunt you down x

"Perfect World Somewhere" is now a Featured Sci Fi novel! Thank you to the Wattpad team and all of you fantastic readers and friends who have made my millennium ;) I hope this story inspires and uplifts others as much as it has me. *** Lily Fairpoole is a girl of many talents. Gifted with a brilliant mind and a beautiful singing voice, she excels at an early age, working as her father's apprentice in their robotic maintenance shop. Her loving family and complacent life in the rural town of Plumgrove are sheltered from the outside world, though the War with the Pruessian Empire has raged across Earth for two generations. Even the most peaceful havens fall on Black Sky Day, as the robotic armies of the Kaezer devastate the homeworld. Faced with overwhelming destruction, Lily and her loved ones begin a journey driven by sacrifice, and the will to remain free. Lily's struggle takes her to the strongholds of the resistance, the dreaded ration camps of the enemy, the glittering and powerful off-world colonies, and finally to the Ruby lift--the swanky and yet often chaotic space elevator operated by the Royal Crown Orbital Plaza and Resort. Chromed and streamlined rocketships, heroic robots, brave revolutionaries, flappers, and plenty of jazz! A blend of early twentieth century eras and possible futures, as well as a coming-of-age story, this is the first complete novel in my retrofuturistic "Family of Earth" series. This novel is in revision status, so please feel free to comment and leave any feedback. Note: This story contains violence and dark situations, in an apocalyptic setting.

Sixteen-year-old Mara Westray has just lost her mother, and now, being shipped off to live with the father she doesn’t know is not how she imagined grieving. She’s already counting down the days until she turns eighteen and can leave the tiny island of Swans Landing. But from the moment she steps off the ferry, nothing is as ordinary as it looks. Whispers of a haunting song on the wind make her see impossible things, and she isn’t sure she can trust her judgment about what is real and what isn’t anymore. Maybe she can’t even trust her judgment about quiet Josh Canavan, whose way of speaking in riddles and half-truths only confuses her more, luring her deeper into the secrets hidden beneath the ocean’s surface. As she tries to unravel the events that led to her mom fleeing the island sixteen years ago, Mara finds that the biggest secret of all is only the beginning. SURFACING is currently available in ebook format from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, iTunes, Smashwords, and other ebook retailers. Available in audiobook from Audible, and in print at Amazon. Visit my website for more information on the Swans Landing series and where to purchase the ebooks: http://www.shananorris.com/surfacing/

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION Jonas, having lost his leg, and Brennan, plagued by terrible anxiety, collide one summer. Soon, they're both finding themselves. Together. ***** After losing his leg in a terrible car accident, Jonas wants nothing more than to start over when he goes to college. Brennan is plagued by anxiety so intense she never wants to go back to school. But when they collide (literally) one summer, their lives change and both of them begin to recognize what's holding them back. With each other's help, maybe they can take the biggest leap of all: falling in love. (Published by Wattpad Books)