The Rise and Future of Craigslist
In many ways, the Web has moved on from Craigslist. And yet, it persists, continuing to quietly generate hundreds of millions in revenue each year through the labor of roughly 30 employees and the army of users who make the site so popular. Why does Craigslist still matter today, and what can we learn from its success story?
Origins
Craig Newmark had already spent 17 years at IBM before, frustrated with management, he resigned and moved to San Francisco in 1995. As he connected with more people in the then-nascent Internet, he was impressed with the trust, friendliness, and willingness to engage with strangers that he observed. Seeking to spread some of that openness he found online to the real world, he created a regular email featuring events in the San Francisco Bay area. The list was small at first, with only 10–12 people, but soon enough it “went viral” (before such a term existed). Craig found himself at the email limit for CCs at the time (240) and had to create what was then known as a “listserv” (those of us of a certain age know that to be an “email list”).
Craig wanted to call it “SF Events” but most told him to call it what everyone already called it: “Craig’s list.” In less than a year even a listserv couldn’t handle the success of Craigslist and it became web-based. Four short years later it expanded into other…
