Author: Mike O'Donnell

Perhaps once in a generation we experience a seismic change in how we connect with others. If you are really on to it, you invent the model T, the mobile phone, or start something like Trade Me.

Few companies have captured the hearts and minds of New Zealanders like Trade Me.
Originally built on a borrowed laptop by university drop-out Sam Morgan, Trade Me has changed the face of retailing in New Zealand.
Destroying newspapers' classifieds businesses, car and property dealers, and partnering with select websites and companies, the company then went on to be sold for a staggering $750 million to Fairfax.
Trade Me has become part of our local vernacular and also the number one force on the New Zealand internet with some 2.5 million Kiwis listed as members.

O'Donnell says: "One of the reasons for our success is New Zealand was a late adopter of the internet ... For a lot of New Zealanders, Trade Me was kind of how they learned how the internet worked and that worked very, very well for us.” 

About the author: Mike O'Donnell has officially been with Trade Me since 2004, first as head of commercial, and now head of operations.