Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team • Hacker News Board

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#71

Post by chopsueyar » Thu, May 26, 2011, 1:00 PM UTC

OoTheNigerian wrote: post #48

I think you guys are being unnecessarily hard on Kutcher. It is a flawed assumption that being a celebrity (sportsman, musician) means you have no additional value. There are medical doctors than when on to play football (the real one); Nigeria has a Cornell Physics PhD candidate that does rap. etc. Why do you guys (critics) believe you can add better value to AirBnB than Aston. I believe celebrities need to do a lit…

It isn't that he is a celebrity, it is that he is Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso).

This isn't Natalie Portman we are talking about....

or even Dolph Lundgren:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Lundgren#Education

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#72

Post by chopsueyar » Thu, May 26, 2011, 1:07 PM UTC

jarin wrote: post #8

I think it's weird how there hasn't been more press coverage of celebrities getting into business and tech. Ashton Kutcher, 50 Cent, Chamillionaire, and other actors and musicians could be a pretty big inspiration to a lot of the teenagers out there.

Why is it weird? All the 'piracy' or lack of quality content has led to decreased profits through traditional movie and music products.

Did you know 50 Cent publishes a series of ghostwritten fiction books available on Amazon.com(http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_browse... )?

..or his Twitter pump-and-dump for OTC penny stocks?

These celebrities have a certain lifestyle to maintain and need to keep the cash-flow up.

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#73

Post by lurker14 » Thu, May 26, 2011, 1:13 PM UTC

Valleywag's take on Ashton and Demi: http://gawker.com/5793552/ashton-and-demi-are-the-horsemen-o...

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#74

Post by lurker14 » Thu, May 26, 2011, 1:20 PM UTC

chopsueyar wrote: post #71

OoTheNigerian wrote: post #48

I think you guys are being unnecessarily hard on Kutcher. It is a flawed assumption that being a celebrity (sportsman, musician) means you have no additional value. There are medical doctors than when on to play football (the real one); Nigeria has a Cornell Physics PhD candidate that does rap. etc. Why do you guys (critics) believe you can add better value to AirBnB than Aston. I believe celebrities need to do a lit…

It isn't that he is a celebrity, it is that he is Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso). This isn't Natalie Portman we are talking about.... or even Dolph Lundgren: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Lundgren#Education

Michael Kelso is a fictional character.

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#75

Post by garret » Thu, May 26, 2011, 1:36 PM UTC

numair wrote: post #32

Some of the comments here on HN about this are quite amusing, especially since many of the people who poo-poo Ashton's involvement in tech have no issues with a normal VC investment in a company. How is Ashton any more annoying than the concept of some random dude thinking he knows whether or not your idea will fly, simply because he was entrusted with tens (if not hundreds, or even thousands!) of millions dollars' w…

I know the drama kids didn't sit with the computer club kids at the high school lunch table

We did at my school.

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#76

Post by rms » Thu, May 26, 2011, 1:40 PM UTC

numair wrote: post #32

Some of the comments here on HN about this are quite amusing, especially since many of the people who poo-poo Ashton's involvement in tech have no issues with a normal VC investment in a company. How is Ashton any more annoying than the concept of some random dude thinking he knows whether or not your idea will fly, simply because he was entrusted with tens (if not hundreds, or even thousands!) of millions dollars' w…

I think angel investing is cool precisely because it is a bad investment. Ashton Kutcher could give all of his money to a responsible financial planner but why not gamble some on the next big thing? AirBNB seems like a good choice for him to bet on, and they'll benefit from his notoriety.

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#77

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, May 26, 2011, 2:17 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #40

I guess it's good news if it means less movies starring him... Did you see Killers? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103153/ I did, and I'm sorry. There was a great piece about Ashton and Demi by Fake Steeve Jobs; here it is: http://www.fakesteve.net/2009/10/i-just-had-weirdest-meeting... That said I'm sure he's a really nice guy and all; but why would startups need celebrities? Having actors endorse your products in ads…

I didn't get the impression that he would actually be in the office all of the time.

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#78

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, May 26, 2011, 2:17 PM UTC

lwhi wrote: post #67

I think this used to be called celebrity endorsement.

I remember when companies would pay celebrities to endorse them, not vice-versa.

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#79

Post by lwhi » Thu, May 26, 2011, 2:19 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #78

lwhi wrote: post #67

I think this used to be called celebrity endorsement.

I remember when companies would pay celebrities to endorse them, not vice-versa.

That was before companies became vehicles for multiplying money ;)

Re: Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team

#80

Post by ia » Thu, May 26, 2011, 2:19 PM UTC

the press release (read: blog post) was nauseating in its saccharine bullshit, but hners aren't the target audience... it was written for the legions of ak fans who know ak but not airbnb.