Airbnb: the first 10 years – start-up to unicorn to US$30 billion business
When a pair of San Francisco roommates decided to make rent money by offering air mattresses to strangers needing lodging, little did they know they would create a multibillion-dollar industry. A bite-size history of Airbnb
A decade ago a pair of San Francisco roommates decided to make rent money by using air mattresses to turn their place into a bed-and-breakfast when a conference in the city made hotel rooms scarce.
The brainwave led to the creation of Airbnb, a start-up now valued at more than US$30 billion which boasts millions of places to stay in more than 191 countries, from flats and villas to castles and treehouses. Here’s a look inside a star of the sharing economy which has sent tremors through the hotel industry, and some of its ups and downs.
Humble beginnings
In late 2007, with hotel rooms selling out due to a design conference in San Francisco, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia decide to make some extra money to help cover the rent in the flat they share, by using air mattresses to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast.
A third former roommate of theirs, Nathan Blecharczyk, then teamed with Chesky and Gebbia in a venture they call “Air Bed and Breakfast,” launching a website in August of 2008.
Struggling to get the business off the ground, the start-up founders staged a quirky stunt at the Democratic National Convention in late 2008, selling boxes of cereal custom-branded “Obama-O’s” and “Cap’n McCains” for US$40 each – raising enough money to stay afloat, and earning much-needed publicity.