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I don't understand why Airbnb was considered as a crazy idea and I hear literally everyone refer to it as an example of crazy idea. I always thought it was a ge
by xoail 14y ago
I don't understand why Airbnb was considered as a crazy idea and I hear literally everyone refer to it as an example of crazy idea. I always thought it was a genius idea from the first time I heard about it. But the way I see things, it doesn't matter what the idea really is as long as there is a market (not too big nor too small) and the team's ability for solid execution of the idea (kick ass product, partnerships and vision).
- salemh 14y agoMarket is semi-legal. How do you gain traction? Network effects (that whole traction thing (re: gaming/tuning Craiglist)), liability, etc. Retrospective analysis biases "initial" perceptions post-facto.
- paul 14y agoYou probably heard about it post-yc. It was initially a thing for renting out airbeds (airbedandbreakfast.com)
- bwilliams18 14y agoI think even that is a great idea...albeit with a much smaller market capability than what airbnb is now.
- ntoshev 14y agoThat's pretty much what http://www.couchsurfing.org http://www.couchsurfing.org do, but for free. Clearly there is both supply and demand for such a marketplace. Were airbnbs or YC aware of couchsurfing?
- rdl 14y agoIt used to be "sleep on the floor during conferences on air mattresses, with the host providing airbeds". I personally would have had a hard time extrapolating from "surge capacity for huge numbers of people during events" to "routine spare-room or whole-house rental", which seems a lot more like homaway/vrbo/etc. to me., a good business. The former is more like couchsurfing combined with the Red Cross, and IMO not good as a business.
- hooande 14y agoIt wasn't a crazy idea at the time. couchsurfing.com had been a thing for years. "couchsurfing with a better UI" doesn't sound like a billion dollar idea, but it doesn't sound crazy either.
- tomasien 14y agoWhat everyone else said, PLUS it was a marketplace startup in a crowded space. Marketplace startups are ridiculously hard to curate, Airbnb did some really great hacks (with Craigslist especially) to finally make it work. But there were many people who thought this kind of thing could be huge, and plus the non-profit Couch Surfing was pretty big at that point if I'm not mistaken.