What does it take to run a website such as this one?

Programming language (eg, you need to write in Perl, PHP, Ruby on Rails, JSP, ASP, or Cold Fusion).

Database = mysql or posgreSQL (we use posgres)

Server to host the site.

And then you need a team of about 6 people or so, for a site such as this where we get a million visitors a month…but, for a smaller site, you’d need less people.

Myself, I’m the “marketing expert” as that’s my day job, so we don’t have to hire for that kind of help. My wife is the product / design genius, who builds the cool icons, user interface, etc.

And then we have the CTO / our other co-founder, who’s an expert in technology, databases, ad systems, web servers and building sites that scale. Without him, the site woudln’t run or be fast, or even exist…:)

So, you could start with those three skill sets, and then build from there. And, as you’re pretty young, you have plenty of time to learn programming, design, technology and the fundamentals of marketing.