iQ MAGAZINE

Has Craigslist lived up to the expectations you envisioned 11 years ago?
I just wanted to tell friends about cool events, usually in arts and technology. People increasingly asked for more information, and I provided that on the site. Now, as a team, we still do the same thing. We listen to people, we do what makes sense, and we keep plugging away. But as far as expectations, I had none. Expectations are a bad idea in everything: movies, dating, everything.

How did you manage the growth of Craigslist from a personal project to the phenomenon it is today?
It's still grassroots. We manage it by staying true to our original values, which are basically driven by the community, and by just having good technology and providing good customer service. We have a really good CTO, and our entire organization is just 19 people working in a Victorian-era house in San Francisco. Our site is run as a community service and as a culture of trust. This means we've turned over lots of control to the people who use the site. We provide the infrastructure, we do customer service, and we take care of special circumstances.

What advice do you have for other fast-growing organizations?
Obsess about customer service; don't only give it lip service.

What has led to the popularity of community sites?
People have an enormous need, both emotional and pragmatic, to connect with each other. And the Internet is really good for that. It's not a substitute for real life, but it sure helps.

Has your organization's culture changed much as Craigslist has grown?
No. I'm better at articulating our culture now, but it hasn't changed. Basically, we're just talking about common, everyday values, like giving people a break, and do unto others. Give people the benefit of the doubt, and give someone a hand.

Community service is important to you. In what ways are you involved?
Everyone in the world, no matter what religion, believes that helping other people is of high value. At Craigslist, we're following through in a really big way. We provide a platform that helps people with everyday needs, like finding a place to live or finding a new job, all in a culture of trust.

I'm also doing some work with the Center of Public Integrity and the Center for Investigative Reporting. Newsrooms have been laying off investigative reporters for 10 or 20 years, and we really need more investigative journalism, not less.

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iQ Magazine, Second Quarter 2006