San Francisco Bay-area startups have been a dime a dozen since the 1990s, but Craigslist not only rode out the dot.bust after the boom, it helped turn the classified ad business on its head. The brainchild of Craig Newmark, the company hosts 450 sites across the country and overseas, with some 15 million visitors a month. Its revenue? From fees on job and apartment ads in select cities. But as tempting as it may be for bankers to take Craigslist public, the company has said it wants to stay as is, creating a "non-commercial environment." And that's the rub, says Taulli. "An investment banker could say I'm going to make you rich but it doesn't seem to resonate too well with those guys."