I think all the people saying it's hard to take on craigslist are right. My own spin on it is simply that craigslist has been around since the dawn of the popu

I think all the people saying it's hard to take on craigslist are right. My own spin on it is simply that craigslist has been around since the dawn of the popular web, it was founded in 1995, and started growing rapidly in 1999. The fact is, it takes time to build the network effect inherent in business models like craigslist (and ebay, also founded 1995). The current startups trying to tackle these problems all seem stuck in the 'get big fast' mode of the 2000 bubble era companies, aiming for millions of users in a couple years. It ain't gonna happen (most likely). You are most likely going to be growing slowly, and if you really want success in this field, you need patience to whether the storm of not much activity (we're talking years here, I'd say minimum 4). But most start ups usually aren't built for that, they are taking 1.5 million funding, burning through it promising big returns and large growth month over month, and investors get tired of that game real quick if a site is not delivering. I think it's a good opportunity from someone in the hacker news mindset to build something simple NOW, work on it on the side for a few years (4+), and see what happens. Heck, I may do it myself.