Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#1

Post by joebottherobot » Wed, May 02, 2012, 5:21 PM UTC

Airbnb signed a 10-year lease for the historic 888 Brannan building. The lease is for over 169,000 square feet, and Airbnb plans to move in by February of next year to accommodate the company's anticipated growth to more than 1,000 employees.

Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease
sf.curbed.com

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#2

Post by carguy1983 » Wed, May 02, 2012, 5:40 PM UTC

1,000 employees? For what?

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#3

Post by marcusf » Wed, May 02, 2012, 5:45 PM UTC

For any other europeans, 169,000 sq ft = 15 700 m^2 (or slightly bigger than two football pitches joined up).

I don't know enough about retail space to say if this is ambitious or not? On the one hand, a ten year lease is a big commitment, on the other hand I guess AirBnB is thinking 'go big or go home', and in that case it might well get cramped sooner than that.

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#4

Post by untog » Wed, May 02, 2012, 5:53 PM UTC

carguy1983 wrote: post #2

1,000 employees? For what?

I imagine that AirBnb needs a very large customer service team, for one.

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#5

Post by mistermann » Wed, May 02, 2012, 5:54 PM UTC

What could they possibly need this much space for, and who is paying for it?

Bubblelicious.

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#6

Post by brianchesky » Wed, May 02, 2012, 5:56 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #4

carguy1983 wrote: post #2

1,000 employees? For what?

I imagine that AirBnb needs a very large customer service team, for one.

Our customer support team is primarily home-shored, and works around the world in over 15 countries - less than 5% is in SF. The majority of people will be product, design, engineering... plus marketing, bd, operations, G&A, etc.

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#7

Post by staunch » Wed, May 02, 2012, 6:06 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #5

What could they possibly need this much space for, and who is paying for it? Bubblelicious.

Their tens of millions of dollars in revenue?

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#8

Post by shabble » Wed, May 02, 2012, 6:13 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #5

What could they possibly need this much space for, and who is paying for it? Bubblelicious.

Maybe they plan to divide it into smaller chunks and loan them out to people via some kind of internet website for that sort of thing?

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#9

Post by il » Wed, May 02, 2012, 6:15 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #5

What could they possibly need this much space for, and who is paying for it? Bubblelicious.

Airbnb is frequenty cited as a counterpoint to all the bubble talk because they have a real business model and are making money. Same goes for all the other highly valued YC companies(Dropbox,OMGPOP,Heroku,etc).

Re: Airbnb Commits To SF By Signing A 10-Year, 169,000 Square Foot Lease

#10

Post by staunch » Wed, May 02, 2012, 6:15 PM UTC

brianchesky wrote: post #6

untog wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that AirBnb needs a very large customer service team, for one.

Our customer support team is primarily home-shored, and works around the world in over 15 countries - less than 5% is in SF. The majority of people will be product, design, engineering... plus marketing, bd, operations, G&A, etc.

Completely sincere question that I'd love to hear your thoughts on: why in the world do you need 1000 people doing that stuff? I get how sales/marketing/customer service require high headcounts -- but product people?

Is there really something useful for 500 developers to do that the top 50 of them couldn't have done?

I've always assumed (since I don't understand it) that it's just a momentum thing. Did you ever consider keeping Airbnb under 100 employees? Would your investors have freaked at that idea? Would it have hurt your growth?