Classifieds. Do you know what that is? I can almost imagine someone younger, who never read the newspapers (yes, the physical paper one) to be completely clueless about it. 

Even for the older folks who know what classifieds are, it’s not something we look at often anymore. Everything for sale is a one-click search away on the internet, and it’s easy to think that the physical medium of a city/country newspaper classified as outdated.

But reading an old tweet by @levelsio made me wonder:

How to get an idea for your startup: Go to the Craigslist front page and find an item you can build a company around” - levelsio

Basically Craigslist is like a huge notice board on the internet, where you can post your product or service or jobs, and it will be grouped under headers like “jobs > accounting+finance”, or “housing > sublets/temporary”.

And if you see the image he tweeted, it’s basically pointing out how “The last 20 years of the Internet have basically consisted of unbundling Craigslist.” (via @johnny_makes). How the classifieds headers could have been possible inspiration for existing products/services, or it can provide ideas for new products/services, like for example:

• Craigslist > community > rideshare =  Lyft
• Craigslist > jobs > transport = Uber
• Craigslist > housing > sublets/temporary = Airbnb
• Craigslist > personals > casual encounters = Tinder

I find this idea of Craigslist fascinating. It’s like looking at the root use cases/user needs for the entire internet, and every header is market validation for a new specialised product/service. It’s almost like you can map every other tech giant out there to each header under Craigslist. That’s mind-blowing. 

Is Craigslist the secret startup muse we never knew about?!

I’m on the hunt for new product ideas right now, and this about Craigslist is like discovering a goldmine for ideas. I’m going to take my time to savour it. 

But back to good old newspaper classifieds. With Craigslist, why bother with the newspapers? Perhaps the reason for it’s stubborn existence is that it serves a need that the internet still doesn’t provide. And as @keenencharles mentioned, even if there’s already a digital equivalent for it, there might be a hyperlocal niche you can serve by looking at your local papers. A market size for just your city/town/county might be overlooked as it’s too small for incumbents, but for indie makers and small businesses, that’s the perfect size to get 1000 true fans to sustain a profitable product. 

Many classified ads are in “dull-normal” industries – mundane categories of business that don’t sound exciting or high tech, like “wallboard manufacturing, building material manufacturing, electronics stores, prefab housing, automobile parts.” (source: The Millionaire Next Door) But very often dull-normal businesses have great endurance, consistently performs well, don’t attract a great deal of competition, and might not be subject to economic downturns. 

So the headers for the local classifieds could present an interesting opportunity for a tech product. It’s a possibility, not certainty. But the fact that it could be massively overlooked makes me want to try. Like this guy who sells onions on the internet.

Old school analog inspires new school digital.

I love the counterintuitive contrast, yet it sounds refreshingly familiar - isn’t that how most interesting tech products come about? By giving a fresh take on old things.

So an interesting experiment to try:

1. Flip through your local newspaper classified ads. 
2. Look for the groupings of products and services. Target the header titles of these groupings and sections. 
3. Pick something you’re interested in, and/or have experience/industry knowledge about.
4. Research if there’s already a digital equivalent of it (e.g. housing > sublets/temporary = Airbnb).
5. Research if there’s a market for a digital equivalent (sometimes some industries just prefer analog or face-to-face).
6. Build MVP and validate product-market fit. Publish an ad on the physical newspapers even!