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How Craigslist Makes Money

forbes.com

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Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#171

Post by Mz »

accountyaccount wrote: post #69
easilyBored wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Craig probably did some math and found out that even if he lives to 800 years old, he will not be able to spend it all so why go nuts? This way everything is manageable and he doesn't need to report to anyone.

I'm surprised that more successful people don't do this? Is the drive that lead them to absurd success what leads them to continue well beyond needing to? I find it hard to imagine hitting $10 million and not just dropping everything and spending the rest of my life on random hobbies and traveling. Maybe that's why I don't have $10 million?

For one thing, if you stop working, your are unlikely to be able to step back in the game at that same level. There are people who work less and just keep a toe in, so to speak, but if you just completely stop and let all your connections dry up, you may be unable to make money like that again if you should need it for some reason.

For another, inflation. What used to be a LOT of money isn't anymore. What is currently a LOT of money won't be in a few more years. And the beat goes on.

There are other reasons, but from a practical standpoint, those two are biggies.

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#173

Post by ptr_void »

pascalxus wrote: post #52

just look at how successful a business that is, so simple, so little innovation and yet so much revenue. But despite all that, they have the best feature (X factor) in the wolrd: market timing. ohhh what i wouldn't do, to time travel back to 1995.

If you are going back, just buying stocks and sitting back would be easier than building a business. Almost guaranteed to be the richest person by 2017.

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#174

Post by derefr »

colmvp wrote: post #54
madamelic wrote: post #8

I think they are doing it right. Just find a niche and work at it progressively through life. No need to raise $100M D Rounds, no need to have an explosive exit, whatever. I think it would be nice to just steadily have six figures, work on something I love and live life (a la Basecamp). Most of all: Have complete control of your destiny. No investors, no bosses, etc.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but it's interesting to me that they could've created Airbnb, as they had both the reach and finances to potentially create a side-project that was specific to short-term rentals. They already had sublets and temporary rentals as a sub-listing since forever. I know that Airbnb comes across as warm and fuzzy hosts who engage with guests, but it's progressively more commercialized with a good…

I don't know if that's a matter of hindsight. AirBnB operates by pushing the boundaries of rental law, frequently overstepping them, constantly getting into fights with municipal governments. Not everyone wants to have that sort of a business, no matter how potentially profitable.

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#175

Post by cfjgvjh »

unexistance wrote: post #149
troncheadle wrote: post #70

Forbes is unequivocally the worst website I have the displeasure of being linked to on a regular basis. Readability is quickly approaching 0. This page kept hijacking my scroll thru the article to keep an ad at the top of my window. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Firefox + NoScript + Reader View seems to help tho I used uBlock to forbid 'weird' stuff ah I've set my UI to always use my colors :D white over black background

>ah I've set my UI to always use my colors :D white over black background

How do you specify that? Are you using Stylish or something?

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#176

Post by cgriswald »

smelendez wrote: post #101
colmvp wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but it's interesting to me that they could've created Airbnb, as they had both the reach and finances to potentially create a side-project that was specific to short-term rentals. They already had sublets and temporary rentals as a sub-listing since forever. I know that Airbnb comes across as warm and fuzzy hosts who engage with guests, but it's progressively more commercialized with a good…

That would have completely changed the company, though. Airbnb works by introducing ratings, insurance and being an intermediary someone can at least theoretically call if a renter is crazy or the listing isn't as advertised. Craigslist has 50 employees and minimal vetting of anything. It's great for what it is, but I would never use it to rent anything​ site unseen.

> Craigslist has 50 employees and minimal vetting of anything. It's great for what it is, but I would never use it to rent anything​ site unseen.

This is one reality show I would watch. Forget all those "We sleep in a dark place recording all the sounds buildings make and then speculate wildly about causes" shows. Sleeping overnight in a house/room/whatever rented randomly off Craigslist would be way more interesting and probably frequently more frightening.

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#177

Post by imjk »

jbuzbee wrote: post #147
hackunomatter wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to say (not sure if it's original or not), "anyone who says 'money doesn't buy happiness' has never traveled First Class". I got bumped into FC once, and it. was. amazing. Especially on a long haul flight, you actively enjoy the time spent there.

I remember my first time in international First Class. A very spacious seat. Personal service. Continuous champagne, caviar, goose-liver pate, Godiva chocolates, etc, etc, etc. All on linen with silver silverware. Since then, I've flown first class a number of times. Most recently, a friend offered me a "free" upgrade certificate for a flight from Heathrow to Chicago. After fees and taxes, it would have cost me $100.…

What?! You found that international first class wasn't worth the $100 upgrade fee?

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#178

Post by accountyaccount »

fragmede wrote: post #119
accountyaccount wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point. I just don't relate to what pushes a wealthy person down the path of ludicrous wealth. Do they really just love doing what they're doing?

Airplane travel is a good example where you just end up chasing the dragon. You start by wanting to make enough money to take a trip every once in a while. Then the cheapest economy class tickets aren't good enough - start making more money, and you just buy a ticket, no need to spend an hour finding that perfect ticket. Then economy class isn't good enough, so you get business class seats. Then you get lounge access…

I don't know, I grew up on welfare and after 20 years of being middle class I still have a hard time buying new shoes until my current pair is literally falling apart. Though, I guess my leap isn't as drastic... I'm still poor enough to be in a hotel and think "wow this carpet is really nice"

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#179

Post by placeybordeaux »

DINKDINK wrote: post #79
placeybordeaux wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

w.r.t bitcoin being the new payment method, so far bitcoin hasn't enabled the really game changing thing: frictionless micropayments. It's possible that lighting networks will enable this (load up your browser with 5 bucks and lock that up in a connection to the LN, pay for articles then pay 1 cent to skip ads, buy premium features one at a time etc), but we haven't seen this yet.

>we haven't seen [frictionless micropayments from the lighting network] yet. You post should be corected: Frictionless micropayments are already running on the lighting network, are already operational: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baHHMNA8yf4

Thats lighting network on litecoin's chain. Bitcoin is still far from activating seg wit.

Any metrics on how large the lighting network is on litecoin yet? I have a couple laying around and would be happy to lock them up with a big node.

Re: How Craigslist Makes Money

#180

Post by imjk »

Retric wrote: post #81
accountyaccount wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point. I just don't relate to what pushes a wealthy person down the path of ludicrous wealth. Do they really just love doing what they're doing?

Upper crust jobs bring a lot of respect with them. Being the CEO of a fortune 500 or even 5,000 company get's you into a social strata well beyond having a few 10's of millions in the bank. Consider, people enjoy shopping at Neiman Marcus in part because of how the sales staff treat you. Now picture how you feel when an IBM sales team is trying to sell you over priced services.

Not arguing the social clout thing, but having sales teams hounds you on the regular, no matter how high the perks, sounds awful. To each their own.
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