[tweetmeme]Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have heard or even used Craigslist. Craigslist is the massively popular classified ads site where users can post and respond to ads for goods, services, real estate including apartments, jobs, and other things you can think of.
From various interviews of the founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark, and Craigslist’s CEO Jim Buckmaster, here are some insights on why Craigslist is a success:
“To be honest, I had no vision at all. I just started … a simple events list. People suggested more stuff, and I followed through. And people suggested more, and I followed through. And now to this day, we’re listening to what people need and trying to follow through.”
– Craig Newmark, “hislist,” eM+C, Sept/Oct 2007, p. 20
“Keep things simple. Be patient. Focus on user feedback. Don’t take outside money if you can do without it.”
– Jim Buckmaster, “Questions for Jim Buckmaster,” Fortune Magazine, Aug 2007, p. 30)
“Treat people the way you want to be treated.”
– Craig Newmark, “hislist,” eM+C, Sept/Oct 2007, p. 20
“I guess if one is building a community kind of site, whatever that means, people are really good at telling whether you’re doing so through an honest intent of connecting with the community, of trying to connect with other people, or whether you’re just trying to make a lot of money right away.”
– Craig Newmark, “On the record: Craig Newmark,” SFGate, Aug 15, 2004
Let people do what they do best. “I was a pretty good programmer. There are a lot better. Probably my whole tech stuff is better than I ever was.”
– Craig Newmark, “hislist,” eM+C, Sept/Oct 2007, p. 21