Craigslist.com started out as a small local bulletin service in 1995 and has since exploded into one of the most popular sites on the internet. A name that now holds a common place in homes across the country continues to maintain it’s simplistic view, which helped it to grow so successfully. This week in the spotlight we take a look at entrepreneur Craig Newmark, who founded the popular internet bulletin site known as Craigslist, and we’ll break down just how he did it.
Summary:
Name: Craig Newmark
Age: 56
Location: San Francisco, United States
Claim to fame: Craigslist (popular internet bulletin board community)
Initial cost: < $1000
How He Did It:
Craig Newmark was born and raised here in the US. He graduated from Case Western University, and later became a web-oriented software engineer where he worked at various companies such as IBM and Bank of America. In 1995 after working many years within the IT industry, Newmark decided start a simple internet bulletin board service for family and friends to buy/sell items and services in the local San Francisco area called Craigslist. What started out as a small side project for Newmark started to grow at a significant rate over the next few years. In 1999, Craig retired from his day job to work on Craigslist full time. Newmark has since expanded his bulletin board service to include areas across all states. The interesting thing about Craigslist is that Newmark only charges money for companies to list job ads for New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago making this their only primary source of income. Newmark does not allow banner advertising anywhere on Craigslist as he has stated he has no desire to make more money than the site currently takes in (around $10 million a year).
Lessons Learned:
- You don’t have to create a site or service flooded with ads to make money. (Newmark kept it clean and simple)
- A simple idea (given time) can expand into much more than you had anticipated. (i.e. Craigslist)
- Starting small and slowly expanding to meet the needs of a growing user-base often works best
- You don’t have to quit your job to pursue your entrepreneurial spirit. (make it a side project in your spare time)
- Don’t be afraid to try something just because someone else is already doing it (just make it different as the case with Newmark)
- You never know what is going to happen until you try. (Textbook entrepreneur example: Craig Newmark) This is probably the most important item to take away from this post today.
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Pierre Omidyar
Be on the lookout for our next entrepreneur spotlight article in this ongoing series. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about the success of this week’s entrepreneur.
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