[Bonus Episode] Dribbble's controversial pivot to a lead-gen marketplace with Constantine Anastasakis (CEO @ Dribbble)

Surprise! It’s a Two-Sided bonus episode! Sjoerd sat down with Constantine Anastasakis, CEO of Dribbble, to discuss their transition from an online design community to a lead-generation marketplace.

The shift sparked a loud social-media backlash, but, as you’ll hear in the episode, the comments mostly missed what was actually happening on the platform.

We discuss:

• The pivot timeline and rationale: Constantine explains why the change occurred now and how it was introduced step-by-step to the community.
• Finding out who your power-users are and what they want: There were several assumptions, both internally and externally, about what Dribbble was, who it served, and who its power users were. But when Constantine had several conversations with uers, and combined the insights from there with the data, it became clear that agencies were the true power users, which helped shape the direction of the changes.
• The aftermath and the metrics: Despite the initial uproar online, the team soon realized that the loudest comments didn't come from the power users. In fact, within three months, the team saw the GMV triple.

All in all, a very thoughtful conversation, that offers several practical lessons on turning attention into reliable revenue, without breaking your community. A must-listen for anyone building a service marketplace!