The Genesis of Airbnb: From Air Mattress Rentals to a Multibillion-Dollar Powerhouse
Airbnb, which has become the first digital platform where we look for a place to stay, especially during trips abroad, constitutes one of the most inspiring success stories of the 21st century with its establishment. Before it became such a big company, it was an idea of three friends just trying to make some money to pay their rent.
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The founders, who were unemployed and had thousands of dollars in credit card debt, realized that the hotels in the city they lived in were inadequate, so they bought air mattresses and started renting rooms in their homes.
The establishment of Airbnb is a complete example of stability, desire and determination. In 2007, founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had just moved to New York. Unemployed, Chesky and Gebbia were having difficulty paying their rent. So they started looking for ways to make money. Then one day they noticed that the events in the city were attracting so many visitors that all the hotel rooms were full.
Seeing the opportunity to make money here, the founders immediately bought a few air mattresses and founded a site called “Inflatable Bed and Breakfast”. This is where the name of the company comes from (Air Bed and Breakfast). The idea was originally to provide visitors with a place to sleep and breakfast in the morning for $80 a night. They were considered successful when their first guests arrived: a 30-year-old Indian man, a 35-year-old woman from Boston, and a 45-year-old father of four.
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Shortly thereafter, Harvard-educated technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk joined as the third founder.
When the three friends launched their services again for the SXSW conference, they encountered a big problem: The site had only two users, and one of them was Chesky. They changed the site to fix the problem and the company was relaunched in August 2008.
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In 2008, they met with 15 angel investors. They received a negative response from 8 out of 15 investors. The other 7 investors ignored them.
They did not let this dampen their morale and opened to serve again just before the Democratic National Convention in Denver. They aimed to appeal to the thousands of people who came to the congress. Obama's supporters would host Obama's supporters. Although more than 600 people found accommodation with Airbnb, their success did not last long.
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When they couldn't make money from the site, they turned cereal boxes into Obama O's and Cap'n McCains and sold them. The founders, who added the phrase 'limited edition' to it, earned an income of $ 30,000 with this strategy.
Paul Graham was the first to recognize the potential of young people. Graham invited the founders to a training program called Y Combinator and provided financial aid in exchange for a small share. The three friends decided to use this money to travel to New York, where there is a larger market. Meanwhile, they noticed that most of the listings' photos were not good. They bought a camera and went door to door to take better photos for the ads.
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Y Combinator's Paul Graham was also trying to persuade venture capitalist Fred Wilson to invest in Airbnb.
Wilson did not accept the offer, but after meeting Chesky & Co, he asked for a box of cereal to remind him not to make such a mistake again.
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By the end of 2008, it was time to change and evolve. They shortened their complicated name and made it Airbnb. So they no longer had any connection with air mattresses. They also changed the site design and made it possible to arrange accommodation in just 3 clicks.
After visiting users in New York, the company began to thrive. Their focus has expanded from shared apartments to all types of accommodation. By March 2009, Airbnb had 2,500 listings and almost 10 thousand registered users.
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In April 2009, they finally received the investment of 600 thousand dollars they were looking for from the investment company called Sequoia Capital.
This situation relieved the founders economically. The company also received the “breakthrough mobile app” award at SXSW in 2011. In the same year, they became the Unicorn of Silicon Valley by receiving an investment of $112 million from some Silicon Valley investors.
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Even though they got into trouble with irresponsible tenants and the law in 2014, they managed to overcome these problems.
They implemented an insurance policy called “Homeowner's Guarantee” that can cover up to $1 million against tenants who destroy the house. In order to overcome legal problems, they started collecting hotel taxes and giving these taxes to municipalities.
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This company, founded by two friends in debt with three inflatable beds, is today worth $31 billion.
The latest statistics about Airbnb are as follows: More than 2 million listings and more than 40 million users in more than 190 countries and 34 thousand cities. The value of the company is approximately 31 billion dollars.