I originally read The Cold Start when I was inside a startup studio with an abundance of marketplace ideas.

This book helped clarify for me that no successful marketplace starts out as a marketplace - simply because you need to start out with ready access to one side (likely the supply side as in the Uber & AirBnB examples) and build demand.

The marketplace/network then emerges strategically as more suppliers are onboarded.

This insight helped quickly focus and filter the marketplace ideas we didn't have any business pursuing.