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[Airbnb] An episode of crazy entrepreneurship from Airbnb
Roughly speaking
- Airbnb is finally listed as strong even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Rent price increases. I had no choice but to share the room.
- I had no money, I sold cereals to make the company live.
To be listed on Airbnb
Room sharing giant Airbnb will finally be listed.
Roomsharing, known as an unparalleled crazy idea in Silicon Valley, has taken the world by storm.
Even now, even in the midst of a severe business environment under the coronavirus, customers seem to be returning faster than hotels.
This is because Airbnb offers special, extraordinary experiences that existing hotels cannot offer.
The handmade experience, like living in an unfamiliar place, attracts customers to Airbnb again and again.
Their entrepreneurial stories are bizarre and interesting. It looks like a group of zukkoke that I read when I was in elementary school.
This time I would like to introduce an episode from Airbnb Story How to generate bold ideas, overcome difficulties, and create super popular services (Lee Gallagher/Nikkei BP), where the story is frankly depicted.
Rent price hikes and hotel shortages for design events
The trigger was a sudden rent increase.
Cesky's bank account had no money to pay the next rent.
At the time, Cesky and Gebia were living there, so we were thinking about ways to make pocket money together.
One of them was to rent out airbeds to designers due to a shortage of hotels at the San Francisco International Design Conference.
I decided to give it a go right away, so I launched an amateur-like website based on our own designs.
The service name is "Airbed Breakfast."
$80 a night. An air bed and a homemade breakfast from the host are included.
Serve, the designer, the first brave booker, said, "I just wanted to attend the meeting, so I thought it was weird, but I made a reservation."
Serve really liked this strange service. This is because I was able to experience an extraordinary experience like actually living in San Francisco with fun people for the first time.
Chesky and his friends joined the International Conference of Designers for free, calling themselves bloggers, and had Saab promote their services.
The people there were amusing, but none took them seriously.
Neither Cesky nor Gebia thought the idea would be a huge business, but it felt a bit strange. It felt like I had gotten a hint.
They began to come up with the idea of a real start-up, and invited Gevia's former roommate and a talented Boston engineer, Nathan Pleajazik.
The three of them came up with ideas for starting a business day, but they never came up with a plan, and only airbed breakfast was left.
Maybe this is your favorite?
Eat with cereal
The three of them tried out ideas at various events such as South by Southwest, but the results were poor.
The funds were then taken up, and the debt had reached the limit of credit card.
Just as I was thinking it was finally time for me to go out, I learned that the Democratic Congress was being held in my neighborhood. Yes, it's Obama's presidential election.
In order to get some talk and make some money to connect, Chesky and others bought cereals at the supermarket and sold them under the name "Obama-Oh."
However, since it didn't sell, I sent it to small radio and television stations to get talked about.
Gradually, various media outlets became more interesting to the serials and were able to generate working capital for a while.
But the three were disappointed. We have become just a serial maker.
Meanwhile, they were introduced to an accelerator program called Y Combinator by Cybel, a private investor who had been providing advice on services for a while.
Chesky and others replied, "We have already launched our service and it's not where we should go," but as soon as we were dying, there was no other option.
Y-con exams are tough. Founder Paul Graham and his partners lash out for questions in 10 minutes.
The interview was a failure. Paul Graham replied, "Is there actually someone who does this? Are you crazy?" The idea seemed out of the question.
Just as the interview was about to end, he handed Graham the unsold cereal that Gebia had secretly brought out.
I thought Graham was a great souvenir. Gebia and his friends explained, "No, they sold it to make it into company funds, not souvenirs."
Graham thought a little and said a word. "You guys look like cockroaches. You never die."
It was the moment when Airbnb decided to participate in Y-Con, and the legendary startup's leap forward that has led to the present.