

Ashton Kutcher Joins the Airbnb Team  - sinzone
http://blog.airbnb.com/no-were-not-punking-you-ashton-joins-airbnb-t

======
numair
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' worth of capital from pensions, wealthy
people, and others? He's just another guy with money, no different from any of
the rest -- except he has massive visibility, and his public image means he is
less likely to pull some of the inane shit I've seen many "respected" Valley
investors pull on my friends (which, by the way, never gets called out, as
they are the ones who are the "sources" leaking things to scoop-hungry
newspapers and blogs).

I know the drama kids didn't sit with the computer club kids at the high
school lunch table, but really... guys, stop being a bunch of haters.

~~~
ignifero
I think it's because he has no expertise on technology, can give you zero
advice, will actually probably give you the wrong advice, cannot help you with
your scaling or implementation issues, cannot refer you to the right technical
people when you need it. The one thing that silicon valley has that none of us
in the rest of the world have is a vibrant network of like minded, able and
willing to help people. It's perfectly ok to invest, but I guess that doesn't
make you part of the silicon valley. Plus it's the old nerds/jocks war.

~~~
ericd
It's a serious and common mistake to think that the majority of the challenges
faced by a startup are technical, especially in a consumer facing startup.
More than half the battle is getting people to know about your product, and AK
knows marketing and promotion well.

~~~
adw
This, this, this. Ashton Kutcher is, in all likelihood, a much better
representative of one of the demographics Airbnb would like to access (wealthy
hipsters) than any VC would be. The whole game is understanding your audience.

He's a professional entertainer and producer - someone very skilled at
connecting with the customers Airbnb want, half of whom probably grew up
watching Punk'd - with ungodly reach on Twitter.

That's rarer, and harder to buy, than deep technical skill. That you can buy
with cash and equity.

~~~
bproper
Exactly - 6 million Twitter followers and nearly 10 million Facebook fans make
for a powerful strategic investor. In a crowded market flush with capital this
kind of exposure is far more valuable than another funding round from a highly
technical VC.

------
BiffDaniels
I've been meaning to write about the absolutely horrible experience I had
using AirBnB in San Francisco recently. It was a nightmare.

The place was filthy (the pictures online were taken on their best day ever),
the people were unfriendly, the room was small and dank- with no way to even
lock the door. It was really, really bad.

I suppose it would be worth a gamble if you have the means to change plans on
a dime and pay for a last minute hotel- whatever the price. That's what I had
to do. But then, those aren't the people AirBnB is catering to, right?

~~~
dotBen
I guess I'm like Fred Wilson who said "Why would anyone want to rent someone's
couch" - I'm probably out of touch or just mildly privileged.

But the idea of sleeping on some stranger's couch doesn't appeal at all (plus
the unknowns like cleanliness, security, etc)

~~~
davepeck
Using AirBnB for the first time -- currently staying at a great apartment in
Manhattan. My girlfriend and I are both quite happy! Both of us, and the
apartment owner, are first-time AirBnB'ers. It _can_ work, I believe, but
you've got to vet things carefully.

We had to work around an understandable but (I think) misguided AirBnB
restriction that makes it hard to get phone numbers in to messages -- it's so
important to be able to talk to someone to understand who you're dealing with!

------
citricsquid
I lost respect for Ashton after the thing a few days ago where _he_ released
the "Aplusk twitter app" with the tag line "...my latest creation..." and it's
just another app rebranded. Seems he's just selling his name now.

~~~
jarin
Donald Trump does that all the time with properties, this is just the Internet
version of that.

~~~
ojbyrne
Who has respect for Donald Trump?

~~~
chopsueyar
I have more respect for Donald Trump than Mark Cuban.

~~~
jarin
It used to be the other way around for me, until I saw him on Shark Tank
(where he just came off as a huge bully).

------
andrewljohnson
I've heard good things about the Kutch from people I respect.

This blog post is really bad poorly wrought though. I wonder how many
different pens and motives went in to crafting this monument to celebrity PR
garbage.

------
mkramlich
I'm calling it now: within a year there'll be a romantic comedy movie out
called Airbnb (or equiv), starring Ashton, and involving, well, you can guess.
Not only will it make for a great gimmick to hang that kind of movie around,
but it would be massive "free" advertising for the company's service.

This and his Twitter following are the obvious, most likely wins for Airbnb.

~~~
chopsueyar
Sponsored celebrity tweets can be obtained for a fairly reasonable fee.

------
siglesias
Here's his value add: Ashton's going to show that the service is so
trustworthy that he'll start using it himself. You can't get that anywhere
else.

------
jarin
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.

~~~
chopsueyar
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...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_browse-
b_mrr_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3A50+cent%2Cp_n_feature_browse-
bin%3A2656022011&bbn=283155&keywords=50+cent&ie=UTF8&qid=1306415082&rnid=618072011)
)?

..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.

~~~
jarin
I saw and brought attention to his OTC "pump-and-dump". It turned out that he
was an active investor in and advisor to the company (I think it was Gunnar
Optiks) and it seemed to be mostly an honest mistake.

~~~
chopsueyar
_mostly an honest mistake_

What percentage was dishonest?

~~~
jarin
He was trying to encourage people to buy stock in the company, but it did not
appear that he was attempting to pump and dump the stock, and it did not
appear that he was aware of the potentially illegal nature of what he was
doing.

Basically he was treating it just like he'd tweet and tell everyone about some
new artist that signed to his label.

------
InfinityX0
I wonder what kind of value Ashton could provide through simply tweeting about
AirBnB once a week to his audience - whether or not he had one half decent
thing to contribute tech wise. That seems like a real big benefit for AirBnB
if he chose to do it, because his influence and reach is so huge, and there is
no marketing cost for him to do so.

~~~
robryan
Even more so, if he made a documentary, or even put some short youtube clips
up off him staying at places listed on AirBnB.

------
h6165
Makes me jealous as a techie in India, where our rich and famous show very
little interest in startups. Congratulations and good luck to AirBnb.

~~~
leon_
Makes me jealous as a techie in Germany, where our rich and famous show very
little interest in startups. ;)

I guess California is just a notable exception to the rule.

------
chrischen
So if I list my place on Airbnb, is there a chance Ashton will come crash on
my couch? Because that would be a great marketing gimmick.

------
lwhi
I think this used to be called celebrity endorsement.

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

~~~
lwhi
That was before companies became vehicles for multiplying money ;)

~~~
pavel_lishin
This reminds me of a random shower thought I had - we are living in an age of
modern alchemy.

~~~
lwhi
AKA - another bubble :P

------
donniefitz2
Is this really a good thing? What does he offer?

~~~
wittman1984
Airbnb has done a great job already of promoting themselves (e.g., rent a
country/village promotions) so I tend to think they know what they're doing.
Kutcher could put his pad up there, get some of his famous friends to offer
their places?

------
abbasmehdi
One word: Publicity. He will help them reach new audiences, and his audience
is their target demographic.

~~~
mtw
I hope they have a plan to get a good director and _good scripts_

------
rhygar
"Like Planet Hollywood and Flooz.com, MVP.com proved that celebrity
endorsements are worth nothing in the long run."

via "Top 10 dot-com flops": <http://www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6278387-1.html>

------
bambax
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...](http://www.fakesteve.net/2009/10/i-just-had-weirdest-meeting-with-
ashton.html)

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 is one thing; having
them hang around in the office is another... Isn't that a little distracting?

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

------
OoTheNigerian
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 little bit extra to show they are more than
what is seen on TV.

So take a moment to stop beefing and say

Congrats AirBnB for a nice coup.

~~~
chopsueyar
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>

~~~
lurker14
Michael Kelso is a fictional character.

------
ThomPete
With the amount of followers Ashton have and the demographics of those
followers a tweet alone could make it all worth it.

Airbnb is successful but still need much more traction. I think this will help
them.

------
muppetman
But there's no bubble.

~~~
btipling
Airbnb has a solid business model.

------
kosei
Hey now, I say if MC Hammer can promote good products (Flipboard), so can
Ashton Kutcher.

~~~
wtn
MC Hammer also promotes crap products, like 49ers WR Michael Crabtree.

------
rs
Congrats to the Airbnb team!!

------
ia
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.

------
lurker14
Valleywag's take on Ashton and Demi: [http://gawker.com/5793552/ashton-and-
demi-are-the-horsemen-o...](http://gawker.com/5793552/ashton-and-demi-are-the-
horsemen-of-the-tech-apocalypse?tag=valleywag)

------
hbrouwer
Ashton who?

------
nhangen
He made a wise move, and I think AirBnB rocks, but I wish the guy would just
go away.

He's not worthy.

