Craigslist's Lean Operation
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A story about how incredibly lean and scrappy Craigslist operated despite generating massive revenue.
"The Hustle's first office was in a San Francisco townhome where Craigslist had previously operated. The landlord told me Craigslist was making around $300 million in revenue at the time in 2016, and they worked out of this tiny office - basically a 2-3 bedroom apartment with only 14 people.
Craig was so cheap that they were paying only $2-3,000 in rent for this small place when they were that big. They were so frugal that in the lease it said 'toilet paper is provided by landlord.' Every once in a while when Ishmael (or Emmanuel) would forget to replenish it, they wouldn't pay the rent until they got the toilet paper.
Craig worked out of one of the bedrooms that had a kitchen table as his desk. When they moved out, they left this ugly but really heavy kitchen table because they couldn't move it. That became my desk for a long time. That's how scrappy they were - running a $300M business out of a tiny apartment with basic furniture."
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.