Airbnb It Reflection

Airbnb Reflection

Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk in 2007, created the company, Airbnb. After a year of attempting to grow the business, the three founders seriously considered shutting down their whole business, due to lack of sales. They however, decided to join YC, in part due to their track record and again attempted to build a successful and valuable business. Nearing the end of the three-month program, the founders were approached with a possible series A funding from Sequoia Capital, but needed a response within the next day. While the terms were fair, the valuation they were providing was lower than the founders’ expectations. Also, the founders wanted to slow down after the YC course, while Sequoia would most likely want a renewed commitment.

Both Chesky and Gebbia met each other in university and each ran their own sports club, building them up to the biggest two on campus. During Gebbia’s last year he designed his own product and won a competition for it. He then pursued this product as his first business. Chesky later drove down to San Francisco to meet the other two founders and one day they rented out their room to guests. This is how the idea of Airbnb was created.

Airbnb did face its own share of problems when even though they received news coverage and were seen as a great idea, they were not able to generate sales. As a result of this, they were not able to obtain any more funding either. Larger nation wide news and YC’s support helped catapult Airbnb into success. Using their proven business strategies and methods, the founders were able to create Airbnb into the success it is today.

Something I learned from this article is that you are never too good to ask for help. Without taking up the offer to join YC and giving up part of their company, Airbnb would have failed and no one would have heard about it. Only by accepting that they could not do this on their own, the founders were able to get the help they needed to succeed.