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I think it's quite possible that AirBnB themselves didn't get the "AriBnB story." I don't know though. To really compress (and make assumptions) I think they w

by netcan 11y ago

I think it's quite possible that AirBnB themselves didn't get the "AriBnB story." I don't know though. To really compress (and make assumptions) I think they went from a sort of "coach surfing for fun and profit" to "holiday rentals" as their central point. They still do the full spectrum, but I think the Air mattress end is pretty small now. I think the take aways for trying to pick winners are: (1) Execution and steering the ship are everything. They were not the first startup to try this sort of thing. The idea itself was a dime a dozen, like many others. App for calling taxis. Classifieds. Restaurant reviews. Online profile. Video sharing site. These are all pretty banal ideas. Lots of attempts were made at all of them. Picking winners is about picking a winner, not picking the race. (2) Try to see "markets" as their full spectrum. High end, low end. Business, consumer. Freaks, mainstream. Coach surfing is a different place on the same spectrum as Hilton. Startups often move up and down spectrums much more easily than mature companies. Tesla could make a budget car next. Jaguar can't. AirBnB can handle mansion rentals for billionaires. Grindr could probably pivot to over 50s Catholic matchmaking easier than one might think.

tomasien 11y ago
They definitely didn't see their own story at the time, see my comment at the deepest nesting of the thread. Totally agree. Also agree that execution and actually building a great business is the most important thing and if you survive long enough to be able to do that and you're good at it, you'll win. The problem is, and the reason VC's need to consider the quality of storyteller you are, is for a business that plans to be capitalized over several rounds, it's a fundamental risk not to have somebody on your team that can tell that story. Secondly, you're going to have to tell stories to your TEAM (internally) and the world (externally/marketing) that will have a huge impact on the future of your company as well. So it matters. It turns out, Brian especially at Airbnb is a natural story teller, he basically can not stop telling stories when he speaks publicly and they're all good. They just didn't know what story to tell yet :)

by netcan 11y ago

tomasien 11y ago

They definitely didn't see their own story at the time, see my comment at the deepest nesting of the thread. Totally agree. Also agree that execution and actually building a great business is the most important thing and if you survive long enough to be able to do that and you're good at it, you'll win. The problem is, and the reason VC's need to consider the quality of storyteller you are, is for a business that plans to be capitalized over several rounds, it's a fundamental risk not to have somebody on your team that can tell that story. Secondly, you're going to have to tell stories to your TEAM (internally) and the world (externally/marketing) that will have a huge impact on the future of your company as well. So it matters. It turns out, Brian especially at Airbnb is a natural story teller, he basically can not stop telling stories when he speaks publicly and they're all good. They just didn't know what story to tell yet :)