Founders at Work.pdf

250 Founders at Work
Livingston: Did you come up with the policy on your own?
Newmark: Primarily the community dictated the policy. And they weren’t shy
about sending the feedback in. I’m mixing together a couple years worth of
feedback—’98/’99 and beyond, but primarily those years.
In the end of ’97, I was approached by some volunteers, and they said,
“Hey, let’s run craigslist and see if we can run a nonprofit.” To make a long,
painful story short, that effort failed. I kind of knew it was failing, probably midway
through 1998, but I was in denial. A couple of our biggest job posters took
me out for lunch and said, “Hey, this isn’t working. Get real and make this more
serious.”
It took me a couple months, but I got out of denial, made craigslist into a
real company—got off to an OK start. But again, it wasn’t until Jim became
management that we got good.
Livingston: When you say you made it into a real company, do you mean incorporating
it?
Newmark: That was part of it, but the real thing was me going full-time and
getting full-time people in all the areas we needed, including billing, customer
service, technology.
Livingston: So you were still doing contract work while running craigslist?
Newmark: For a few months at the end of ’98 through like a month or so of ’99,
I actually joined a startup, but left it because I had to get serious about
craigslist.
Livingston: You joined another startup?
Newmark: Remember, in the conventional sense, we were never a startup. In
the conventional sense, a startup is a company, maybe with great ideas, that
becomes a serious corporation. It usually takes serious investment, has a strategy,
and they want to make a lot of money.
We’ve done something very different. I’ve stepped away from a huge
amount of money, and I’m following through. In ’99, we made this real. I did
make some more mistakes, but by 2000, with Jim handling a lot of stuff, we’ve
made only the occasional mistake since.
Livingston: Will you tell me about some of those mistakes?
Newmark: Actually, there are legal settlements which prevent me from talking
about a lot of them. I can answer specific questions, sometimes.
Livingston: Did a mistake have to do with personnel?
Newmark: Yes. And I didn’t listen to lawyers well enough. And those two issues
are swirled together.
Livingston: So you had some personnel issues that involved lawsuits, but then
you were able to get some closure? Then you hired Jim?
Newmark: No, Jim helped lead us out of the difficulties. I’m being vague, but
I have to.