I think that most startups that try to compete with Craigslist fail in their strategy. I was lucky to have professor Jakki Mohr as a teacher, and she advocated

I think that most startups that try to compete with Craigslist fail in their strategy. I was lucky to have professor Jakki Mohr as a teacher, and she advocated the "bowling alley" strategy: http://wisepreneur.com/innovation-marketing-2/innovation-marketing-strategy-first-get-a-beachhead http://wisepreneur.com/innovation-marketing-2/innovation-mar... As the article states, and lesterman shows below, there are several startups that succeeded in beating Cragislist.. but they all did so by focusing on a specific niche.