Success story: It is a matter of the year 1995. The Internet was just making a place in the lives of people. During this period, a person named Craig Newmark created a very simple website for his friends. The purpose of this website was very small and clean – just share information about local events with friends. Neither big preparation, no business plan nor any big investor money. Just one man and a small idea of him.
Gradually this website became a need for people. Whoever used it, told his friends. Neither marketing, nor advertisement, just the name of Craigslist spread through mutual conversation between people. When Craig saw that people were joining it, they started putting all the posts on a website systematically. The design of the website was extremely ordinary- no luxurious logo, no fancy branding. Just listed on the black-white page. But still people started liking it.
Currently 60 employees manage the site
Today in 2025, when we see Craigslist, this is a big example. This website is earning around 700 million dollars every year without spending on any advertisement. Surprisingly, only 60 employees work to run such a big business. Even today this company has not taken any funds from any big investor.
The story of Craigslist is not limited to money just. This is the story of that thinking… which says that work should not be done only to earn money. When a businessman came to buy this website and he made an offer of $ 11 billion to Craig, it would be difficult for anyone to reject it. But Craig smiled and said- “Don’t want. I have enough. My life is going on easily, I am happy.”
This answer of Craig gives a very big message in today’s era. Where people run behind investors as soon as they make a startup, Craig showed that success is not measured only with money. The real success is when you are happy with your work and are making people’s lives easy. Today, there are sections available on this website ranging from community activities, services, home buying and rent, jobs, gigs and resumes, which also have many sub-sections inside. People from almost all the big cities of the world can post here. Despite all this, the homepage of the site is still limited to only one scroll. If the screen size is large then there is no need to scroll a single.
The second message from Craigslist is also that big brands, heavy marketing and investment of crores are not the way of success. Sometimes only a simple idea, honest work and the passion to understand the needs of the people can reach you where even big business plans are not available.
