E1010: TWiST Live! Thumbtack CEO & Co-founder Marco Zappacosta shares insights on pivoting to optimize for consumer experience, starting a company during the great recession vs. 2019, fundraising tips & the future of Thumbtack

0:52 Jason intros TWiST Live guest and one of his first investments Marco Zappacosta & Marco describes how they met in 2010

2:28 What did Thumbtack look like back in 2010? How has it changed in 2019?

6:09 Dealing with regional price differences

7:58 How much has mobile demand increased since starting Thumbtack?

11:53 What was it like running a startup in 2010 vs. 2019?

14:38 Impact of starting Thumbtack 2 weeks before Lehman Brothers went out of business

15:43 How did Marco's first try at institutional fundraising go? What did he learn from a bad investor experience?

23:13 What should founders optimize for during fundraising?

27:50 What drove growth at Thumbtack? How did they reach $10M in revenue? How did they remain focused on digging after striking oil?

31:56 Focusing on output over input

35:07 Transforming the Thumbtack experience after hitting $100M in revenue

44:33 What has Marco learned about building a marketplace over the past decade?

52:22 How has the gig-economy impacted overall employment in the US?

56:59 What is private/public healthcare's impact on entrepreneurship in a society?

1:02:33 How is Thumbtack dealing with the scarcity of trade workers?

1:04:41 What advice would Marco give himself in 2010?

1:07:16 Thoughts on minimum wage?