A consumer-focused app, such as a safety platform for travelers, can create a high-margin B2B offering by selling "safety certifications" to businesses like hotels. This creates a new, highly scalable income source beyond individual user subscriptions.

When direct-to-consumer growth flattens and acquisition costs rise, B2B channels offer a scalable alternative. Betterment's founder notes their B2B expansion not only provided scale but also fed more users back into their retail product, creating a powerful growth flywheel.

Instead of marketing directly to individuals struggling to afford training, partner with the institutions they are already paying. This provides access to a stream of customers who have already demonstrated financial commitment.

While platform businesses (marketplaces) can achieve massive valuations, they are incredibly difficult and expensive to build due to the chicken-and-egg problem. For most founders, a traditional B2B SaaS model is a far safer and more direct path to success.

For EdTech startups, pivoting from D2C to B2B school sales is challenging, with long sales cycles. However, it creates a stickier business not subject to seasonal dips and, more importantly, provides equitable access to students in underserved communities, not just affluent families.

Golden's platform extends beyond a simple two-sided model by also serving governments, foundations, and universities. These entities don't host programs but have a vested interest in driving participation within their networks. This creates a powerful ecosystem and additional B2B revenue streams by providing technology to manage and influence engagement.

SellRaise begins as a utility, helping sellers easily list items across multiple marketplaces like eBay and Poshmark. By aggregating a critical mass of sellers (the supply side), it can eventually attract buyers directly. This strategy allows it to leverage existing platforms to solve the chicken-and-egg problem before ultimately aiming to replace them as an AI-native marketplace.

Instead of marketing directly to a fragmented customer base (e.g., fitness coaches), sell your platform to the agencies and mentors who already serve them. This leverages their distribution, resulting in a stickier, more profitable customer base with a lower acquisition cost.

1Password's growth illustrates the 'land and expand' model. Start with a B2C product individuals love, which they bring into their workplace. This creates organic internal demand, allowing you to then approach the company with an enterprise solution offering management and compliance.