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I can only speak for myself, and it was a feeling of “oh this is a great idea”

ackbar03 6y ago
Thats pretty fascinating. I think PG made it pretty clear that none of the VCs thought airbnb's idea had any potential at first, I guess somehow they managed to turn it around, at least within the YC cohort
- einarvollset 6y ago
  Yeah I remember Chris Sacca at one of our Tuesday dinners saying something like “sorry guys, don’t do this, someone is going to get murdered” Which - to be fair - might have scuppered the company if it had happened early on by chance. Ps Chris was my favorite speaker - he’s the only one who made sure to tell everyone to chill out, take care of your health, sleep, etc.
  - cercatrova 6y ago
    Sacca's response is interesting because it highlights something very cool about the gig economy: the commoditization of trust. People are actually far more benevolent than people think. The number of actual murderers and other miscreants is such a small number as to be negligible for the purposes of renting out your home, your car, getting food delivered to you, etc.
    - dannyw 6y ago
      Part of this is because these companies associate individuals with their real world identities or credit card numbers. Uber does criminal and driving background checks.
    - i_am_new_here 6y ago
      You could also argue that this was solved "along the way" and also not really clear back then. I am an AirBnB host myself and were also wondering about this recently and there are several factors today which contribute positively: Provided as a (technical) solution by AirBnB (Recommendations, IDs, etc.) but also how the internet/web evolved as a hole - A place that somehow manages that strangers meaningfully/safely interact with each other. This was never clear and also an uncertainty for Wikipedia (earlier) and now for AirBnB in a different and new way: Inviting strangers to your house.
    - ajmadesc 6y ago
      My first interpretation was that the hotel chains would have them murdered mafia style!
      - ackbar03 6y ago
        Well thats one way of interpreting his comment Lol
  - anonymouse008 6y ago
    And to be fair, Chris was right[0]. In total the parent comment exemplifies how Chris values and honors life over profit. That’s a tough internal struggle in this industry and is probably why he dipped out a few years ago. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/airbnb-ban-party-houses-halloween-mass-shooting-murder-california-orinda-a9183061.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/airbnb-ban...

Thats pretty fascinating. I think PG made it pretty clear that none of the VCs thought airbnb's idea had any potential at first, I guess somehow they managed to turn it around, at least within the YC cohort

einarvollset 6y ago
Yeah I remember Chris Sacca at one of our Tuesday dinners saying something like “sorry guys, don’t do this, someone is going to get murdered” Which - to be fair - might have scuppered the company if it had happened early on by chance. Ps Chris was my favorite speaker - he’s the only one who made sure to tell everyone to chill out, take care of your health, sleep, etc.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  Sacca's response is interesting because it highlights something very cool about the gig economy: the commoditization of trust. People are actually far more benevolent than people think. The number of actual murderers and other miscreants is such a small number as to be negligible for the purposes of renting out your home, your car, getting food delivered to you, etc.
  - dannyw 6y ago
    Part of this is because these companies associate individuals with their real world identities or credit card numbers. Uber does criminal and driving background checks.
  - i_am_new_here 6y ago
    You could also argue that this was solved "along the way" and also not really clear back then. I am an AirBnB host myself and were also wondering about this recently and there are several factors today which contribute positively: Provided as a (technical) solution by AirBnB (Recommendations, IDs, etc.) but also how the internet/web evolved as a hole - A place that somehow manages that strangers meaningfully/safely interact with each other. This was never clear and also an uncertainty for Wikipedia (earlier) and now for AirBnB in a different and new way: Inviting strangers to your house.
  - ajmadesc 6y ago
    My first interpretation was that the hotel chains would have them murdered mafia style!
    - ackbar03 6y ago
      Well thats one way of interpreting his comment Lol
- anonymouse008 6y ago
  And to be fair, Chris was right[0]. In total the parent comment exemplifies how Chris values and honors life over profit. That’s a tough internal struggle in this industry and is probably why he dipped out a few years ago. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/airbnb-ban-party-houses-halloween-mass-shooting-murder-california-orinda-a9183061.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/airbnb-ban...