Airbnb
They sold cereal to survive. Now Airbnb is worth around $100B.
▶ Founder shortScalingBusiness & growthMarketplaceConsumerDesignUSA
In 2008 Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were two broke designers in San Francisco who couldn't make rent, so they put air mattresses on the floor and rented them to strangers. Investors said nobody would sleep in a stranger's home; for a year it went nowhere and they ran up ~$25K of credit-card debt. They kept the company alive selling novelty election cereal — Obama O's — until Y Combinator took them in. Airbnb is now a public company worth around $100B.
Why it's indexed
- A ~$100B public company that started with three air mattresses.
- Kept alive by $30K of novelty cereal sales before YC.
- The founding story of 'do things that don't scale'.
Coverage
Founder short: Brian Chesky & AirbnbFounder short
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