Craig Newmark

We were completely unprepared for that. And even now, personally speaking, I'm not good at that because I'm basically honest, and an honest person is never a match for someone who's a dirty tricks operator.

We were completely unprepared for that. And even now, personally speaking, I'm not good at that because I'm basically honest, and an honest person is never a match for someone who's a dirty tricks operator.

As you pointed out, the company has never needed much because Jim runs the company pretty smart. And from the very beginning, people wanted to pay us to run ads, typically the people who were paying more money elsewhere for less effective ads. So our growth and our income kind of matched each other. So we were lucky in that regards. And we have a really good technology team.

As you pointed out, the company has never needed much because Jim runs the company pretty smart. And from the very beginning, people wanted to pay us to run ads, typically the people who were paying more money elsewhere for less effective ads. So our growth and our income kind of matched each other. So we were lucky in that regards. And we have a really good technology team.

who is really good at running the essentials really well.

who is really good at running the essentials really well.

We got lucky. From the very beginning, growth ramped up slowly enough and income ramped up a little better. That was never an issue. Also a factor is luck in that in the first years, we could run on one server. And then over time, with really good technology help, we learned how to run the company on multiple servers. For what we accomplished, There's still pretty small server farms involved.

We got lucky. From the very beginning, growth ramped up slowly enough and income ramped up a little better. That was never an issue. Also a factor is luck in that in the first years, we could run on one server. And then over time, with really good technology help, we learned how to run the company on multiple servers. For what we accomplished, There's still pretty small server farms involved.

But the deal is that I guess in part, we got lucky starting in the right time and place.

But the deal is that I guess in part, we got lucky starting in the right time and place.

I didn't know. I just followed my commitments and that worked out.

I didn't know. I just followed my commitments and that worked out.

Into late 99, I was beginning to get the sense that I wasn't up to the job. Like I say, I realized that as a manager, I suck. People helped me understand that. And then I looked around in the industry, other industries, but also, or mostly the computer industry, And I could see how sometimes someone who's good at starting something is really bad at growing it, scaling it, and making it real.

Into late 99, I was beginning to get the sense that I wasn't up to the job. Like I say, I realized that as a manager, I suck. People helped me understand that. And then I looked around in the industry, other industries, but also, or mostly the computer industry, And I could see how sometimes someone who's good at starting something is really bad at growing it, scaling it, and making it real.

So by that time, I had hired Jim to lead technology, realized that he would do a better job than me. So I promoted Jim into that position. I went into full-time customer service. And again, I'm a really good customer service rep. And even nowadays in philanthropy, I still do customer service, maybe not that intensely, but I still am committed.

So by that time, I had hired Jim to lead technology, realized that he would do a better job than me. So I promoted Jim into that position. I went into full-time customer service. And again, I'm a really good customer service rep. And even nowadays in philanthropy, I still do customer service, maybe not that intensely, but I still am committed.

I'm going to disagree halfway. I do have an ego. I even have the occasional little bit of vanity. It's just that my ego is in fairly good balance with what I perceive as real. And I will listen to people. I have no yes men around. So people will tell me when I'm making mistakes and I need to do better.

I'm going to disagree halfway. I do have an ego. I even have the occasional little bit of vanity. It's just that my ego is in fairly good balance with what I perceive as real. And I will listen to people. I have no yes men around. So people will tell me when I'm making mistakes and I need to do better.

Remember in, oh, at the end of 98, people told me that I had to make the thing into a real company. So I listened to people and I followed through. Towards the end of 99, people told me that, and as a manager, I'm just not up to the job. And I listened to them and acted accordingly.

Remember in, oh, at the end of 98, people told me that I had to make the thing into a real company. So I listened to people and I followed through. Towards the end of 99, people told me that, and as a manager, I'm just not up to the job. And I listened to them and acted accordingly.