# Building the two-sided marketplace

- Org: Pax8 (2023–25)
- Role: Sr. Director → VP of Design · design direction
- Focus: B2B SaaS & marketplaces, Product strategy, Visual design, Design leadership
- Outcome: 98% opt-in adoption of the new marketplace
- Outcome: 70 → ~90% vendor self-service completion, pilot to today
- Access: summary public; the full case study unlocks with a password from Seth's application, or on request
- URL: https://sethgerard.com/work/marketplace

Turning a sales-driven cloud distributor into a product-led marketplace, for the MSP partners who buy from it and the vendors who sell through it.

A distributor takes orders.
A marketplace makes connections.

The Pax8 platform was built to sell cloud software to its partners: thousands of managed service providers (MSPs). In 2023 we set out to turn that distribution platform into a true two-sided cloud marketplace, a dual flywheel. On one side, software vendors reach new markets through Pax8's partners. On the other, partners get the tools to build, sell, and manage solutions for the small businesses they serve.

I set the design direction for both sides, starting with design-led workshops that turned the CEO's vision into prototypes, and led the designers who built them: first a partner marketplace that replaced the old platform for nearly every partner, then a self-service marketplace for vendors, launched as an MVP.

![Pax8's marketplace at the center, surrounded by the MSP partners it serves. One arm reaches to vendors: products and prospects flow in, recurring revenue flows back, and the hook is a complete small-business go-to-market. The other arm reaches to small businesses: managed solutions and support flow out, recurring revenue flows back, and the hook for partners is a solutions and marketplace platform.](https://sethgerard.com/work/marketplace/two-sided-marketplace.svg)