Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia moved in San Francisco in 2007. Starting a life in a new place, they didn’t have jobs and had a hard time paying their bills. They got a brainy idea to start letting people stay with them. At first this may seem like a crazy idea, but after buying a few “airbeds” they quickly created Air Bed and Breakfast. Although this was a great idea, they needed more help. Soon after Nathan Blecharczyk joined as a co-founder, they changed their website and relaunched the company in August 2008. This was right around the time of the Democratic Convention, where they marketed to those coming into town. Over 600 people stayed at Airbnbs during this time with the slogan “Obama supports, staying with Obama supporters.” They knew that their business would slowly crash after the convention so they came up with the idea to sell cereal, Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains, to raise money to get out of debt raising over $30,000. After pitching their idea of Airbnb to many investors, the founders decided to head to New York, their biggest market, to meet their users. During this time, they realized many different things about their business, Airbnb. They started with poor pictures, going door to door taking better pictures of their listings for potential clients. This allowed for more traction within their business. By March 2009, Airbnb had 2500 listings and 10,000 registered users. From then on, Airbnb took off. Today, it has over 2 million listings in over 190 countries. From two young, broke men to an estimated $25.5 billion business, Airbnb has changed the way the world looks at travel. Although the founders of Airbnb were not always successful at first, their perseverance prevailed and created one of the most successful businesses of our time.
Airbnb is such a great idea and Triumph of the free market. Have an extra room? Rent it out. I personally have used Airbnb for long term yet short term housing needs, around 3 months in length. You almost always find yourself the right fit for where to live and the area you want.