#321: Dejan Pralica of SoleSavy, on Managing a Community Marketplace, the Rise of Web3, and Partnering with NBA Franchises

Just Go Grind

Dejan Pralica is a sneaker enthusiast and entrepreneur with a passion for building community-first businesses that empower consumers. In 2018, DP co-founded SoleSavy to address the challenges and growing frustrations sneaker consumers face amidst a booming resale economy. SoleSavy provides community, tools, and technologies to help fans connect and buy sneakers at retail and has grown into one of the world’s largest paid sneaker communities. As SoleSavy’s CEO, DP leads a growing team of 50 people servicing thousands of members globally. Prior to SoleSavy, DP co-founded KicksDeals, a leading source for news releases, deals, and coupons on sneakers. This is DP’s second time on the Just Go Grind Podcast— listen here to his first chat with Justin on episode #168.

Topics Covered by Dejan Pralica in this Episode

• Dejan’s insane sneaker collection
• SoleSavy’s growth since Dejan was last on the Just Go Grind podcast in September of 2020
• From 10 to 50 employees in a year and a half
• Dejan’s approach to building out SoleSavy’s team and why he scares people off on purpose
• The evolution of SoleSavy’s peer to peer marketplace as an element of their end to end experience
• How they utilize cohorts to manage their community of 7k members and why the process can’t be automated
• Navigating trial and error with community dynamics and what hasn't worked
• How the rise of Web3 and NFTs has affected SoleSavy and the trades and resale economy
• How they’ve leveraged partnerships with NBA teams as a brand building opportunity
• How they decided to partner specifically with the Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212