4 ms·

Sounds like this is the problem: you don't know exactly what they are doing. That doesn't mean it's not justified, and of course it doesn't mean it is :)

aerovistae 10y ago
I mean, there's really no possible way Airbnb could possibly need that much money. That's more than half what Tesla recently raised, with the goal of building 500,000 cars annually within 24 months. How could Airbnb possibly justify needing 56% of the same amount?
- codezero 10y ago
  Managing an infrastructure of peer to peer rental for >500,000 units worldwide seems like a reasonably hard task. You're comparing apples to oranges here. Arguably the value of the property Airbnb is a defacto manager for is higher than 500,000 cars, but they also need to expand. Trust me, I'm totally on board with the unicorn hate here, this seems ludicrous, but I also don't know what is going on at Airbnb, so I try to think about why this might be a good investment, rather than why it might appear ludicrous :)
- dsacco 10y ago
  Unless you have considerable expertise in Airbnb's core and peripheral markets, I don't think it's fair for you to say what is and is not possible for a company to need (putting aside the fact that "need" is used in the normative sense here).
- cylinder 10y ago
  I'm going to bet they will be opening local offices / retail points around the world. Help less tech savvy folks list on Airbnb as well as serve as a "check in desk" to pickup keys
  - Erwin 10y ago
    Cheaper, a simple locker system (nicely AirBnb theme). When renting, you get a code via text, enter it and a small locker opens up with the key. When done, you can deposit the keys in there. You could even put up a computer next to it where you can search for immediately free rooms, pay and get the key right away, or just one friendly local guide standing around ready to answer tourist question about the city. Put it in a convenient central location that's safe (airport, central train station).
dsacco 10y ago
Yes, I really wish there were fewer top comments on Hacker News rehashing "I can't believe a software company raised so much money!" It's not that these valuations are above criticism, it's just there's rarely any real dialectic reasoning involved. I rarely see a comment from someone with a deep, nuanced understanding of the industry and market criticizing the funding round. It's just the usual incredulity that these numbers are big, which is not a sound basis for debate. I'd like to see honest criticism of these funding rounds (or honest defense) from people who have a great deal of knowledge on the subject.
- codezero 10y ago
  Also, very few people on HN have seen the decks, metrics, or long term plans that the investors saw. Obviously nobody can see the future, so it's totally reasonable to assume that said decks, metrics, and long term plans are total bullocks, but hey, at least they exist, and someone saw them.
- CPLX 10y ago
  Those of us that were in the tech business between 1998-2001 are well aware it's precisely the people claiming "deep nuanced understanding of the industry" that drove the entire community off a cliff with mindless fundraising and valuations wholly unsupportable by common sense, or any other kind of sense. Clearly the market is different now, but basic economic laws of nature don't get repealed. The reason a valuation question is the top comment on all these stories is because the valuations appear, objectively, to have no basis in a realistic assessment of the future discounted cash flows of the business in question.
  - dsacco 10y ago
    Your first paragraph is not really responding to what I actually said. Let me repeat for you: these valuations are not above criticism. I just want to see better reasoning involved than literally balking at big numbers. It comes across as the same hysteria that drives the valuations up in the first place, just in the opposite direction. It's really not a lot to ask to simply elevate the caliber of discussion. For example, I could respond to your second paragraph by stating that it is very difficult to claim what an objectively good valuation is without a understanding of what Airbnb's future plans are. Expedia's market cap is on the order of 17B. We have incomplete insight into Airbnb's plans for future markets. See? That isn't so difficult. I'm not blindly attacking or defending the valuation, I'm reasoning about it instead of saying, "These numbers are big so I can't see how they possibly need them!"
legulere 10y ago
Yes, the comment you're answering to is asking what they are doing with it.

aerovistae 10y ago

I mean, there's really no possible way Airbnb could possibly need that much money. That's more than half what Tesla recently raised, with the goal of building 500,000 cars annually within 24 months. How could Airbnb possibly justify needing 56% of the same amount?

codezero 10y ago
Managing an infrastructure of peer to peer rental for >500,000 units worldwide seems like a reasonably hard task. You're comparing apples to oranges here. Arguably the value of the property Airbnb is a defacto manager for is higher than 500,000 cars, but they also need to expand. Trust me, I'm totally on board with the unicorn hate here, this seems ludicrous, but I also don't know what is going on at Airbnb, so I try to think about why this might be a good investment, rather than why it might appear ludicrous :)
dsacco 10y ago
Unless you have considerable expertise in Airbnb's core and peripheral markets, I don't think it's fair for you to say what is and is not possible for a company to need (putting aside the fact that "need" is used in the normative sense here).
cylinder 10y ago
I'm going to bet they will be opening local offices / retail points around the world. Help less tech savvy folks list on Airbnb as well as serve as a "check in desk" to pickup keys
- Erwin 10y ago
  Cheaper, a simple locker system (nicely AirBnb theme). When renting, you get a code via text, enter it and a small locker opens up with the key. When done, you can deposit the keys in there. You could even put up a computer next to it where you can search for immediately free rooms, pay and get the key right away, or just one friendly local guide standing around ready to answer tourist question about the city. Put it in a convenient central location that's safe (airport, central train station).

dsacco 10y ago

Yes, I really wish there were fewer top comments on Hacker News rehashing "I can't believe a software company raised so much money!" It's not that these valuations are above criticism, it's just there's rarely any real dialectic reasoning involved. I rarely see a comment from someone with a deep, nuanced understanding of the industry and market criticizing the funding round. It's just the usual incredulity that these numbers are big, which is not a sound basis for debate. I'd like to see honest criticism of these funding rounds (or honest defense) from people who have a great deal of knowledge on the subject.

codezero 10y ago
Also, very few people on HN have seen the decks, metrics, or long term plans that the investors saw. Obviously nobody can see the future, so it's totally reasonable to assume that said decks, metrics, and long term plans are total bullocks, but hey, at least they exist, and someone saw them.
CPLX 10y ago
Those of us that were in the tech business between 1998-2001 are well aware it's precisely the people claiming "deep nuanced understanding of the industry" that drove the entire community off a cliff with mindless fundraising and valuations wholly unsupportable by common sense, or any other kind of sense. Clearly the market is different now, but basic economic laws of nature don't get repealed. The reason a valuation question is the top comment on all these stories is because the valuations appear, objectively, to have no basis in a realistic assessment of the future discounted cash flows of the business in question.
- dsacco 10y ago
  Your first paragraph is not really responding to what I actually said. Let me repeat for you: these valuations are not above criticism. I just want to see better reasoning involved than literally balking at big numbers. It comes across as the same hysteria that drives the valuations up in the first place, just in the opposite direction. It's really not a lot to ask to simply elevate the caliber of discussion. For example, I could respond to your second paragraph by stating that it is very difficult to claim what an objectively good valuation is without a understanding of what Airbnb's future plans are. Expedia's market cap is on the order of 17B. We have incomplete insight into Airbnb's plans for future markets. See? That isn't so difficult. I'm not blindly attacking or defending the valuation, I'm reasoning about it instead of saying, "These numbers are big so I can't see how they possibly need them!"

legulere 10y ago

Yes, the comment you're answering to is asking what they are doing with it.