Hey PG,
Thanks for publishing this exchange. I've never known you to be anything but exceedingly polite and thoughtful; now I learn you're doing good work behind the scenes too. Inspiring!
Subject: Airbnb
131–140 of 146 posts
Re: Subject: Airbnb
#132Fascinating conversation. Thanks for giving insight into how these deals work... >ABNB reminds me of Etsy in that it facilitates real commerce in a marketplace model directly between two people. Interestingly enough, I still tend to side with Fred's assessment of AirBnB's future. All my experiences with it as a user have been too unreliable to expect that it can scale to truly massive usability. Selling your old guit…
"I just don't see it swallowing up the whole Hotel industry." I've been out of the travel/hotel game for about 4 years now, but I worked in it on and off from ~'97 through to '07. It's an industry ripe for a new player to do a Paypal style end run around the traditional banking/creditcard industry. I don't know whether Airbnb are that player (I'm 100% sure pg and Fred are _much_ better judges of that then I am), but…
I'm going to Vancouver soon with my family; the first thing I did with my wife this week was pull up AirBNB (where is your ipad app, guys?) to check out what sort of deals we could get.
I'm not saying I wouldn't check hotel deals, but reading honest reviews from people who really stayed in each room, and sometimes getting to half off a hotel works great for me. They are definitely moving into 'high on my list' for travel, personal and business. I'm guessing I'm not alone here.
Re: Subject: Airbnb
#133Nice, pg. Have you ever given a similar vote of confidence to founders who didn't live up to your expectations?
Maybe not quite that persistent, but I've definitely tried to sell investors on startups that didn't end up doing very well. Even by the end of the 3 months we are far from perfect at predicting who the big winners will be.
Re: Subject: Airbnb
#134If someone still has any doubts about the value of YC, they should read this email exchange. PG is pushing for the startup as if it was his own. He genuinely wanted them (and also the VC firm) to succeed. Great stuff.
What? He was invested in them. Do you think he wants to see them crash and burn?
Actually I don't think I worried that the Airbnbs weren't going to be able to raise money. They were one of the top startups in their batch, and the top startups always manage to raise money. The reason I nagged Fred so persistently was that I thought he'd be a good match for them and I was annoyed that I couldn't convince him.
Re: Subject: Airbnb
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every niche has it's own lingo. VC's that need to bring the above message across several times a day just don't want to come across as rude or worse. Therefore they use euphemisms of which the messages are perfectly understood by their peers and which leave them as much room as possible (eg. making it easier to come back later and say "finished data acquisition phase -- we are in"). Classic VC play. In the end, I can…
This is confusing to me. If I'm asking people for money and they don't want to give it to me, I wouldn't really be offended if they said, "the reason I don't want to give you my hard-earned cash is because I think your idea sucks." I wouldn't give someone with an idea that sucked cash either. This would also not preclude, "you know, I was wrong... still interested in some cash?" It's a business transaction, not datin…
It only does not preclude that if the person who received the message is mature about the whole situation. Unfortunately some people won't be mature, and that is simply not grief that the VC wants.
Furthermore when you come off as rude the first time, you discourage them from asking the second time. What if they come back with an idea that is good, and a team that rocks? Don't close doors that you don't need to close.
Re: Subject: Airbnb
#136Re: Subject: Airbnb
#137Airbnb has definitely tapped into a latent market, but I wonder how such "rentals" may square with terms in lease agreements or condo association provisions. States and / or municipalities may quickly try to capture taxes, as Zipcar has discovered, or they may try to prevent or regulate such "rentals" on the basis of licensing, public health and safety, or other laws or ordinances. I wonder if the typical renter is properly reporting the income to the appropriate tax authorities.
Re: Subject: Airbnb
#138Fred: "I'm just not sure how big it's going to be" - had he seen couchsurfing at the time? http://www.couchsurfing.org (launched as beta in 2003) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchSurfing Are Airbnb copycats?
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Re: Subject: Airbnb
#139Fred: "I'm just not sure how big it's going to be" - had he seen couchsurfing at the time? http://www.couchsurfing.org (launched as beta in 2003) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchSurfing Are Airbnb copycats?
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Re: Subject: Airbnb
#140Fred: "I'm just not sure how big it's going to be" - had he seen couchsurfing at the time? http://www.couchsurfing.org (launched as beta in 2003) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchSurfing Are Airbnb copycats?
I have to admit that when I first heard of airbnb I thought: "wow, great idea! A paid couchsurfing!"
And it makes sense to me as often I skipped on cs because I needed to be quiet in a room and work. You can't do that If you are a non paying host.