There is little introduction needed for craigslist and for those that want a backgrounder, the Wikipedia entry should do the trick.  What has captivated me over the years has been all of the things you’d figure craigslist should’ve done, didn’t and still weathered the relentless competition that Angie’s List and every newspaper that lost classified revenue as a result.  Seeing that there was an army of ex-McKinsey consultants at eBay that most certainly conducted the tear down of the century on this company (I wish I could read that memo!), I’m convinced there was simply no weak link in what Mr. Newmark created.  As far as indies go, this is it.

What’s inspiring about craigslist:

• the founder’s self-awareness
• the continuous defying of norm functionality
• silent growth befitting of an attack submarine

There are handful of peculiarities that stand out about this wondrous venture:

• Staying Power:  1995.  Seriously.  Back in 1996, comScore’s sample was only 287 users.  By 2003, craiglist leads online classifieds at 13M users, and at the time of this posting in 2016, they’re at 23.8M and realistically within the US top 50 domains.  This site is still relevant.

• Founder’s role:  Craig Newmark’s decision to hire a CEO to run the business while he took on other roles, such as customer support, points to a lot.  Keep in mind, this has taken place in San Francisco, where founders are heroes and shorthand for “I will always run the show.”  To have the presence of mind to let somebody else run the company so early stands out.  I’ve asked myself if that’s something I’d have the self-awareness to do something like that.
• Revenue per employee:  Although this has been brilliantly covered by others, it’s the sheer size of annual revenue that is staggering for any private company.  Craigslist was reportedly doing north of $335 million annually with 28 employees for 2015.  Most VC-backed companies never get to this size, and it’s not that hard to find venture companies that raised over $100m in order to one day break a $100m run rate.  To grow to $300m/yr by defying  what everyone in Silicon Valley was doing is just crazy.
• Virtually no change in design.  Ever.
• No crazy expansions.  It’s been twenty years and at the time of this post, Craigslist has never built an IOS app.  Of course they must have discussed it – they’re doing $100m/yr and pre-dated Google a decade; so what did those  internal debates look like?  “We have a formula, so let’s not change it?”  The craigslist team must have a great center, knowing what’s important to them, on their terms.
• Expansion.  Ok, so they did expand.  Not into other platforms and significant product lines, but rather they helped it spread to whatever community needed it.  It’s still useful and sometimes it’s the first site that comes to mind for certain tasks.
• Press.  Do you think this team spends cash and time on marketing?

Craigslist has built a citadel for over thirty years.  They’re growth, style and philosophy was molded around the people that built it and the mission they believe in.  I would not bet against or try and unseat this team.  If they can patiently outlast eBay’s ten year equity feud, they can certainly manage through whatever future new usurpers come their way

Kudos.