Project FTFP #2 — Marketplace Product Strategist (VendyX)

About McKintoye McKintoye Inc. is building a portfolio of technology ventures focused on solving meaningful real-world problems across families, education, AI, marketplaces, and communities. Rather than filling traditional consulting roles, we are launching Project FTFP (Five Tasks. Five People.)—an enterprise initiative designed to identify exceptional long-term strategic collaborators through real product challenges. This engagement is one of five flagship strategic assignments. About VendyX VendyX is a vendor platform designed to help independent businesses manage orders, customers, fulfillment, and growth through a modern digital experience. The product has a strong technical foundation and is approaching launch readiness. Engineering is no longer the primary constraint. Our next challenge is determining how to determining how to create a marketplace that earns trust, reaches liquidity, and becomes genuinely useful before pursuing scale. The Challenge This is not a typical marketplace consulting engagement. We're looking for a strategist who can help answer the decisions that determine whether VendyX becomes a successful marketplace or another platform waiting for users. Among them: Which vendor category should we dominate first? Which city or region should become our launch market? How do we solve the marketplace cold-start problem? What creates enough liquidity for both vendors and customers? What growth engine should we build before broad expansion? Your recommendations will directly influence executive product decisions. Why this assignment matters? VendyX is intentionally not trying to become another generic marketplace. We believe disciplined launch sequencing, marketplace liquidity, vendor success, and operational simplicity matter more than feature breadth. We're looking for someone who can help us make those strategic decisions before broader growth begins. Your Objectives Working alongside McKintoye leadership, you will help determine: Initial launch market First vendor segment Customer acquisition strategy Marketplace activation strategy Vendor onboarding strategy Marketplace liquidity framework Referral strategy Competitive positioning 90-day launch roadmap Expected Deliverables Marketplace opportunity assessment Launch-market recommendation Vendor segmentation Customer acquisition framework Liquidity strategy Referral model Executive strategy memo Final presentation Ideal Background Experience with: Marketplace products Two-sided platforms Local marketplaces Product strategy Growth strategy Product-led growth Marketplace economics Startup launches Consumer platforms What Success Looks Like By the conclusion of this engagement, McKintoye should confidently answer: Which market launches first? Which vendor segment do we own? How do we reach marketplace liquidity? What should the first 90 days of launch look like?