VC: Shut up and light this bag of cash on fire. Focus on number of non-paying users and make sure it's big enough so I can introduce you to more people with bigger pile of cash to light on fire.
Craigslist Post: We are hiring front-end React.js developers with 10+ year experience.
The dream of creating an app that can shield a person from all the uncertainty of buying from an individual is appealing - but I don't see how you could really offer a better deal. The problem is that however smoothly you put two people in touch, those two people will have to do lots of annoying work coming to an agreement and it's hard to see a lot saved by this initial increased smoothness. Oh, and if you filter out the annoying people, you filter out a lot of people who actually have stuff to sell too.
I'll admit this doesn't really work for big stuff like couches and other furniture, but in that case you're asking for hyperlocal protections that an online business just can't offer. Check out a thrift store, pawn shop, estate sale, or local auctionhouse instead.
Craigslist has it's niche, and it's niche doesn't really have room to improve.
And I am pretty sure if you took a developer from say 6 years ago and told them to look into the front-end code, they could optimize the KB and keep the site looking the same. I am also sure you could optimize the way it is organized and bring some civility and style to posts without doing any CSS or JS work.
On top of all that, if they launched an XML version to each page, they could be the listing backbone of the internet.
Oh those nice simple features ... but maybe the only way of avoiding JS/CSS bloat is to avoid all features entirely.
I have seen a lot of CL alternatives that look nicer at first glance but the UI lacks. Sometimes more features is not a good thing. KISS principle is oftentimes better especially when you are working with such a wide user base such as Craigslist.
CL only has 30 employees, never took VC, is one of the most highly visited sites and brings in millions of profit a year. Not many other web companies can claim that. If I were in that position, I don't think I would be too worried about the tech community complaining about how ugly my site was especially if my users continued to come back and benefit.
CL does have rss feeds (example https://slo.craigslist.org/search/web?format=rss) but they have pretty strict terms on how you can use them.