Cold Outreach and Lowballing: How We Got Our First 10 Suppliers Pre-Launch

When you’re building a two-sided marketplace, you face a chicken-and-egg problem: you need supply to get demand, but you need demand to convince supply to join.

Most founders underestimate how hard it is to seed the supply side, especially when you have no users, no traction, and barely a landing page.

Max, the founder of Adventuro, didn’t have a shortcut. But he had a strategy.

Adventuro is a platform for booking outdoor and adventure sport experiences from kitesurfing to kayaking, scuba diving, mountain biking, and more. But what makes it special is its focus on progression. It’s not just about one-off tours — it’s built for people who want to go deeper, get qualified, and level up in their sport.

On a recent episode of The Levels Podcast — produced by Trophy, a platform that helps companies gamify customer experiences — Max shared how he got his first 10 suppliers on board before the product was even live.

No marketplace magic. Just cold outreach, persistence, and smart incentives.

Here’s how he did it.

Start With Supply, Even Before You Have Demand

After building the platform in only 11 weeks, Max understood early on that getting credible supply was essential, not just to make the site usable, but to build trust with customers.

“We wanted to have real activities listed before we launched, otherwise it would just be a hollow marketplace.”

At the time, Adventuro didn’t have any brand awareness or existing relationships. So Max did what many founders avoid: he started cold emailing.

Cold Outreach and Personal Calls

“It was just a ton of email outreach, trying to get people on the phone. I'd try and have a 10-minute chat with them, explain what we were doing, share a mock-up of the site.”

He focused on activity centers, instructors, and independent guides. The pitch was simple: we’re building a new marketplace for outdoor sport experiences — be one of the first to join.

Some said no. Some ghosted. But enough said yes — and a few conversations led to momentum.

“It was very manual in the beginning… probably took 100+ emails to get those first 10.”

The Power of Low Commissions

To make the offer more attractive, Max deliberately lowballed the commission rate for early partners.

“We went out to them and said: we’ll take just 10% — really low compared to other platforms. And we won’t charge you anything upfront.”

That worked — not because it was sustainable long-term, but because it gave instructors zero risk to try the platform.

And for instructors already paying 20–30% to OTAs or struggling to manage their own bookings, Adventuro felt refreshingly founder-friendly.

Make It Easy to Say Yes

One of Max’s key tactics was reducing friction.

“I’d say: just give me your price list and some photos, and I’ll build your page for you. You don’t have to do anything.”

This level of hand-holding made it easy for busy instructors to say yes. They didn’t need to figure out a new dashboard, upload listings, or learn a new system. Max did all of that for them.

Even now, Adventuro still offers a similar onboarding option for new partners, especially those who aren’t tech-savvy or time-rich.

“Most instructors would love to be teaching more and emailing less. We make that happen.”

Focus on the Relationship, Not Just the Listing

The most important part of the early supplier push? Building genuine relationships.

“Even now, we know most of our partners on a first-name basis. We call them up, we visit them. It’s not a faceless platform.”

This relationship-first approach paid off in surprising ways.

Some suppliers began referring customers to other Adventuro partners when they were full, a powerful early signal of community trust and platform value.

“We had one partner send overflow bookings to another provider through Adventuro. That kind of thing shows you’ve built something meaningful.”

What Worked (and What Didn’t)

What worked:

• Cold emails followed by personal phone calls
• Offering to build listings for them
• Low commissions with no upfront cost
• Focusing on instructors, not big tour operators
• Building real relationships (not just listings)

What didn’t work:

• Waiting for demand to attract supply
• Asking partners to upload everything themselves
• Pitching purely on “future potential” without any value today

Lessons for Marketplace Founders

If you’re launching a supply-side platform, here’s what Max’s journey teaches us:

1. You have to hustle supply manually.

There’s no way around it. Seed your first 10–20 suppliers by hand. Do things that don’t scale.

2. Lower your take rate early.

Make it easy to say yes — especially if you have no track record yet. You can raise it later.

3. Do the heavy lifting.

Don’t expect your partners to care as much as you do. Write their listings. Upload their photos. Reduce friction to zero.

4. Build real relationships.

Talk to your partners. Visit them. Understand what they care about. This is what turns a supplier into a supporter.

5. Look for signs of network effect.

When partners start referring each other and passing customers around, you’ve moved beyond just being “another platform.”

Final Thoughts

Every marketplace founder wants to wake up with a hundred suppliers already on board. But that’s not how it works.

You have to earn your way to that point — one email, one phone call, one listing at a time.

Max did exactly that. And by making it easy, fair, and personal, he turned a cold start into the beginnings of a thriving partner ecosystem.

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