Curious to know PG's opinion on this.
How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
131–140 of 197 posts
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#132Glad you did all that testing to find something so damn obvious. Look at how they rank on google - they don't. It was really obvious they were spamming craigslist.
If it is/was that obvious, care to share any other 'obvious' practices that may not be common knowledge?
blackhatworld.com > everything you need to know.
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Is this 'grey' ? In the sense that it can be interpreted as 'shady' ? Hell yes. But is it "wrong" ? I don't think so." I post a listing on Craigslist specifically saying it's not "ok for others to contact me about other services, products or commercial interests" (an option in Craigslist) and then a business tries to convince me to use their site using a disguise DESPITE clearly stating that I don't want to be conta…
But wouldn't you say that's a bit unreasonable given that if you listed your apartment/house for rental on Craigslist - it can be safe to assume that you are interested in renting your house/apartment, no ? I think every 'savvy' user always checks those boxes, but if there is an option that allows you to actually fulfill your original intent - i.e. you got no hits on Craigslist, but with AirBnB you have tons of reque…
This is spam pure and simple the seller can't decide their product is so in line with what you need that they can spam you. Who is then the judge of what is spam. Contacting user that haven't specified they don't want to be contacted by commercial interest is OK, but not someone who said no.
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#134Good research. I don't think this is anything new. I'm familiar with a few YC companies that use CL as a method to get their supply (in this case vacation rentals).
Curious which ones and how?
I wonder if this is the tenacity of founders that pg speaks of.
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#135I wonder what nickb thinks of this.
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#136"It is a story of pure unadulterated hustle. And I love it." - Fred Wilson talking about the AirBNB team's Obama cereal hustle. I'd like to borrow his words in regard to this post. Fred's original post - http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/03/airbnb.html
The cereal was great, scrappy, creative hustle.
The spam is the opposite of all that. The spam destroyed a wonderful founding story. The spam destroyed their professional and ethical credibility.
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#137I started my own company to get away from the do-anything-for-a-sale attitude of corporate america. I do not admire or respect AirBnb for this behavior. I don't care that it worked. I don't care if it was legal or not, it was dishonest. I know it's common, but it takes a fundamental lack of respect to lie directly to another human being. I'll just continue to toil in obscurity; self-respect intact.
I am not being facetious by this question, but did you make a product that you are selling ? If so, how did you get your first set of customers ? Please share. If you have not made a product that you need to sell yet, I think you will find when you do it, it's MUCH, MUCH more difficult than you ever thought it would be. Also, selling a service - i.e. web development/design is very different than selling a product.
I've sold products.
I didn't spam. I talked with customers before the product was even finished to make sure we were solving a real problem, to make sure they understood our marketing message, and to make sure we really understood the space.
This led naturally to a situation where I had paying beta customers, and even more customers who signed up and started paying as soon as we launched.
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
I second that. What scares me the most is that no one from AirBnB came on that thread to strongly deny this article. And you know they read HN a lot and post often. So I'm sad.
I'm sure that their attorneys have let them know that acknowledging that they sent out spam would expose them to massive damages under the CAN-SPAM laws. So AirBnB can't really acknowledge what they did and try and move on... financially, it would be ruinous for them. They are probably hoping that the controversy will blow over, until the statute of limitations expires at which point they can apologize and blame the…
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Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
I second that. What scares me the most is that no one from AirBnB came on that thread to strongly deny this article. And you know they read HN a lot and post often. So I'm sad.
I'm sure that their attorneys have let them know that acknowledging that they sent out spam would expose them to massive damages under the CAN-SPAM laws. So AirBnB can't really acknowledge what they did and try and move on... financially, it would be ruinous for them. They are probably hoping that the controversy will blow over, until the statute of limitations expires at which point they can apologize and blame the…
Since this has been on the front page of HN long enough, I expect more in-depth coverage from TechCrunh really soon. That's usually how it works. That could get the ball rolling.
(I know TC has its critics, but they are exactly what's needed for this kind of story)
Re: How AirBnB Became a Billion Dollar Company
#140These types of messages definitely appear to fit the CAN-SPAM Act, which covers "any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service".
Airbnb may be spending that $100M sooner than they thought: "Each separate email in violation of the law is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, and more than one person may be held responsible for violations. For example, both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that originated the message may be legally responsible."
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-complia...