Craigslist is a small company, fewer than 25 employees generating more than $25,000,000 in revenue.  Their website offers, largely free, classified ads in more than 450 cities and is the top ten most trafficed internet sites. 

The success of the site is likely due to the fact that the company has NOT tried to maximize revenue.  The site charges nominal fees for job posts in seven cities and for real estate listings in New York ~ every other listing is free.  Analysts estimate the site could be worth hundreds of millions in revenue if the company would simply add texts ads on the site.  

Business Week is running an interview with Craigslist CEO, Jim Buckmaster titled, "Craigslist’s Ongoing Success Story."  The story explains,

Craigslist.org CEO Jim Buckmaster has been called many things: anti-establishment, a communist, and a socialistic anarchist. Traditional businesspeople are often confounded by the company’s business model. After all, the online classified advertisement site over which he presides consistently ranks among the Internet’s most trafficked sites, yet he remains decidedly uninterested in monetization.

Perhaps we should all take a hard look at Jim’s (and of course don’t forget Craig) strategy.  Maybe leaving a little on the table allows us all to eat.  Had the company focused on monitization from the start the site might not generate more than $1MM per employee, much less hundreds of millions of dollars.