As I have been preparing for my talk in Edinburgh in August, I have been collecting examples of disruption. One that I am particularly fond of because so much has happened in the last 15 years are classified ads. Here is a brief history. Classified ads in the offline world were enormously profitable. They accounted for a significant portion of newspaper revenues and also supported some large standalone classified businesses, most notably a company called Trader that was a roll-up of paid and ...
