Fwiw, Andrew Chen led Uber's Rider Growth when the company was in hypergrowth. His book, The Cold Start Problem, is great, and anyone building a two-sided marketplace should read it. This guy knows referral programs. Highly credible advice. Probably one of the best business books I ever read:
Funny to read some of the scathing replies in this thread. Andrew is pretty much one of the leading minds in growth over the last 10 years. It’s unlikely that you’d find anyone in the role that hasn’t studied his articles in depth.
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Start-Problem-Andrew-Chen/dp/006...