> These companies are basically hogging it because they were able to build the user base I am all for liberating data and letting startups drink out of the fir

> These companies are basically hogging it because they were able to build the user base I am all for liberating data and letting startups drink out of the firehose but I have some cognitive dissonance from reading this news. I know that OLX spends tens of millions of dollars in India and nearby regions to solve the marketplace problem: get a critical mass of buyers and sellers to achieve escape velocity and enjoy growth through network effects[1]. So it's not just that these companies "happened" to build these user bases, they spent money and took early gambles. This could very well spell the beginning of the end for much of Craigslist's real estate listings (followed by other categories inevitably) unless they have some grand plan to overhaul their UI/UX entirely. Kijiji, OLX, Gumtree are also vulnerable. Maybe even Twitter since it has a habit of shutting down startups built around its feeds. What should one do if they are at the helm of CL or one of these other companies? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect