So when we say '$31B valuation' what does that mean in real money? Lets say that I am the founder of airbnb, how much of that money could I get when I sold the business?
Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
191–200 of 253 posts
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
To me it sounds like an argument the investor would make to leverage founders not getting equity. Investors get paid before employees. What if airbnb had answered to him "we will do that, but also, you cannot make any money at all until employees get it, otherwise this shady way of things will harm you long term".
Well, the investor made it quite clear in his note that he wasn't disagreeing with taking money off the table: > My basic principle on this stuff is that if you want liquidity, that’s fine, but you should make it available to everyone.
Coupling one concession to a requirement makes its harder for it to happen: "Sure, I will give you a salary raise if you can commit to working any saturday i tell you to".
Think also that the least money the founder gets off the table, the investor gets lets capital into his investment itself, he is interested in getting as much money into the business itself, not into the founders pockets.
Arent the investors preferences clear in this point? HE prefers the founder not to get money off the table, and puts a requirement on it.
Another way to put it, he recommends a course of action, but is he the one adding extra money so that course of action goes to his preference? If he is, then by all means its at least a great gesture.
Addition: and also, think of it the other way around. What if a founder told the investors "you are not getting any money unless my employees are getting money as well". Becuase thats not how the deals are structured nowadays.
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
To me it sounds like an argument the investor would make to leverage founders not getting equity. Investors get paid before employees. What if airbnb had answered to him "we will do that, but also, you cannot make any money at all until employees get it, otherwise this shady way of things will harm you long term".
Well, the investor made it quite clear in his note that he wasn't disagreeing with taking money off the table: > My basic principle on this stuff is that if you want liquidity, that’s fine, but you should make it available to everyone.
[deleted]
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
To me it sounds like an argument the investor would make to leverage founders not getting equity. Investors get paid before employees. What if airbnb had answered to him "we will do that, but also, you cannot make any money at all until employees get it, otherwise this shady way of things will harm you long term".
Well, the investor made it quite clear in his note that he wasn't disagreeing with taking money off the table: > My basic principle on this stuff is that if you want liquidity, that’s fine, but you should make it available to everyone.
[deleted]
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#195I used to use airbnb quite often (as a traveler), but I have to say it's lost its appeal for me. First, it's really not much cheaper than a hotel in most cases (some cases more expensive). Second, it's a hassle when you're on vacation to have to arrange in advance a specific time to pick up the keys to the place. Then, what happens if you happen to lose the keys (happened to me once)? What happens if it's in the midd…
Keep in mind that even though you may not like AirBNB, you're still benefiting from their service. AirBNB has greatly increased the supply of housing in each city, thus causing price drops and forcing hotels to drop their prices in order to remain competitive.
If AirBNB really is overpriced for the hassles involved, then no one would use it, and AirBNB hosts would be forced to lower their prices until they find someone. If you're seeing that AirBNB is just as expensive as hotels, that's because some other tourists had decided that an AirBNB accommodation fits their needs just as well as the hotels they looked at.
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a better tell would be displaying the ratio of people who actually reviewed vs the ones who didn't. When people don't like a place they'll usually not review it at all.
People actually review. Otherwise you won't be able to see what the other person wrote about you.
That's not true. You can see what the other party wrote without writing a review if you can wait for the review period to end, which is 14 days -- not that long. It must be so because reviews are public.
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Upvoted but sadly you can't take YC prodigy and downvote. It's a lose-lose propositon kinda like staying in an airbnb. Say something nice about YC or don't say something at all.
Small minded to think or act like a cabal
Small mindedness sadly doesn't prevent wealth and power accumulation. Depending on your view, YC or Trump both prove this.
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#198> That's EBITDA profitability, according to the Wall Street Journal, meaning that expenses like taxes are not included [0]
So it's profitable - as long as you exclude such meaningless items as "interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation". Nice.
[0]: original post.
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#199I'm not surprised to see Airbnb became profitable. They've expanded everywhere. I nomad around and always use Airbnb, I've booked places on several continents. However, I'm definitely feeling the effects of their growing pains. For example, many people have bought places to only rent on Airbnb full-time. Most of these people suck at being an hotelier. It's clear people get lazy and are just trying to make money. Thin…
> Unless, they fix this and get more people to review honestly. I think they're going to run into a lot of problems. I don't airBnB, but a friend who does was recently berated by a host after leaving a 4-star review; that host claimed (don't know how true this is) that many hosts will refuse to rent to you again if you leave anything but a 5-star review. That and other things I've seen and heard about airBnB reviews…
>I don't airBnB, but a friend who does was recently berated by a host after leaving a 4-star review; that host claimed (don't know how true this is) that many hosts will refuse to rent to you again if you leave anything but a 5-star review.
Airbnb pushes hosts really, really hard to achieve >80% 5-star reviews. If Some guests never give 5-star reviews for whatever reason. They really, seriously hurt the host. If your average is >4.0 (and it should be over 4.5) then any review less than 5 stars will lower your rating.
I worked in a restaurant and was trying hard to get our TripAdvisor ranking higher. One quiet night a guy comes in so we chat and give him some great service, special dishes etc. At the end of the meal he said it was excellent and had left us a 4 star review. I said "Dude, our average is 4.8 stars, you just made us look worse."
In the end we got to #2 in our city. The #1 was a cafe that was only open 7 am to 4 pm. All you need for 5 star review in a cafe is a hot coffee, so we settled for #2.
Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is probably a much better way to do it. One of the food delivery company does it this way (I think it's grubhub/seamless). Three questions before you're given an option to review: 1. Was the food on time? 2. Was the order correct? 3. Was the food good? Only then is the person given the option to review. The problem with star based rating systems is that they're INCREDIBLY subjective. I oftentimes read yelp revie…
Also a lot of times on Amazon the low reviews are reflective of an issue with that particular sale instead of the item itself (ie damaged while shipping, etc).
Another annoyance is amazon not allowing rating separate editions of something. For example a bad kindle version resulted in bad ratings for Dune a few years ago. Sometimes certain versions of movies are bad while the movie in general is great.