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With all the bad PR Uber has gotten lately it makes sense that they may wait longer but I'm surprised AirBnB hasn't already gone public.

bernardlunn 9y ago
I am a big AirBnB fan, but I think that Uber is imploding. If Uber imploded while AirBnB was public it would drag AirBnB down as well.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- lhnz 9y ago
  Do you think the whole of the tech industries success is linked to Ubers?
  - jressey 9y ago
    There is a lot of skepticism in the 'sharing economy' and Uber is the de facto representative of the model. Any negativity they suffer will likely affect other companies that use the model.
  - Analemma_ 9y ago
    To some extent, yes. How much money a company can raise in an IPO is partially a function of how optimistic investors are feeling about its entire sector. If Uber-- the much-hyped mega-unicorn-- turns out to be a dud, that's going to weigh on everyone's opinion of other tech unicorns, whether it makes sense or not.
  - ithinkinstereo 9y ago
    If Uber implodes there will be a lot of talk in the media about how VC money padded their unit economics. I thinks this will make people start questioning the viability of all sorts of other "too good to be true" startups. This includes all the sharing economies, but also non-sharing startups like Blue Apron. This in turn will cause a bit of a vacuum for funding B2C startups. We're already starting to see this in some areas, like food delivery. It may grow to cover all consumer-based startups, rightly or not.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
  I doubt it. They're both two very different companies. Uber's business model is to undercut unhandesomely paid taxi drivers with slightly less paid contract drivers. Whereas airbnb undercuts multimillion dollar hotel chains. The crucial difference is that an uber driver can only earn money when driving passengers for uber. Airbnb hosts, by contrast, can earn money without having to be anywhere near the unit, and can make money from multiple sources at a time. At the end of the day, the feeling that someone is getting ripped off somewhere, somehow, is much less with airbnb than uber.
  - nitrogen 9y ago
    Supposedly the people getting ripped off by AirBnB are the neighbors of the hosts.

bernardlunn 9y ago

I am a big AirBnB fan, but I think that Uber is imploding. If Uber imploded while AirBnB was public it would drag AirBnB down as well.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
lhnz 9y ago
Do you think the whole of the tech industries success is linked to Ubers?
- jressey 9y ago
  There is a lot of skepticism in the 'sharing economy' and Uber is the de facto representative of the model. Any negativity they suffer will likely affect other companies that use the model.
- Analemma_ 9y ago
  To some extent, yes. How much money a company can raise in an IPO is partially a function of how optimistic investors are feeling about its entire sector. If Uber-- the much-hyped mega-unicorn-- turns out to be a dud, that's going to weigh on everyone's opinion of other tech unicorns, whether it makes sense or not.
- ithinkinstereo 9y ago
  If Uber implodes there will be a lot of talk in the media about how VC money padded their unit economics. I thinks this will make people start questioning the viability of all sorts of other "too good to be true" startups. This includes all the sharing economies, but also non-sharing startups like Blue Apron. This in turn will cause a bit of a vacuum for funding B2C startups. We're already starting to see this in some areas, like food delivery. It may grow to cover all consumer-based startups, rightly or not.
rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
I doubt it. They're both two very different companies. Uber's business model is to undercut unhandesomely paid taxi drivers with slightly less paid contract drivers. Whereas airbnb undercuts multimillion dollar hotel chains. The crucial difference is that an uber driver can only earn money when driving passengers for uber. Airbnb hosts, by contrast, can earn money without having to be anywhere near the unit, and can make money from multiple sources at a time. At the end of the day, the feeling that someone is getting ripped off somewhere, somehow, is much less with airbnb than uber.
- nitrogen 9y ago
  Supposedly the people getting ripped off by AirBnB are the neighbors of the hosts.