Dribbble

It’s been exactly one year since clients and designers began transacting on Dribbble. The functionality we introduced last September – which enabled clients to request design services and pay, and designers to deliver work and get paid – was modest, but it marked the beginning of Dribbble’s reinvention from an advertising-supported social network to a revenue-sharing marketplace. Over the past year, designers on Dribbble have received hundreds of thousands of leads and millions of dollars in payouts. Transaction activity has increased each month, with no signs of slowing, and new users are joining in record numbers. Our trajectory coming out of the summer is better than ever:  In August, GMV increased 46% M/M – the third consecutive month that M/M growth has accelerated – and most of our lower-funnel metrics also showed double-digit M/M growth and reached new high-water marks, including Orders (+17% M/M), Clients (+15% M/M), and Designers (+16% M/M). Further up the funnel, the number of Project Requests received by designers increased 24% M/M, the number of designers who received Project Requests increased 9% M/M, and the average number of Project Requests per designer increased 13% M/M. These leading indicators – which reflect the demand in our marketplace, as well as its distribution and density – are the most predictive of our long-term success. Designers will share their work, advertise their services, and transact through the platform only if they expect to land more clients as a result. Conversely, nothing will keep them on the platform if they don’t see a return on their time and effort. For context, we monetize the leads we deliver to designers either through transaction fees (when designers get paid) or through Designer Advertising (advertising products that allow designers to rank higher in search results, waive fees for themselves and their clients, and take clients off-platform). In August, Designer Advertising revenue increased 13% M/M, and the number of designers who joined the waitlist to advertise increased 200% M/M. This surge of interest was partly due to work we did to bring more attention to the offering, and partly due to TechCrunch publicizing the penalties for disintermediation. The past year has been transformative for Dribbble, but there’s more to do before the business is in fighting shape for the long run. The next few months – even the next few weeks – will be eventful as we dial up the high-intent, qualified lead flow to designers and adapt legacy parts of our platform to our long-term strategy. More to share soon!