

Travel like a human (Airbnb, YC W09) - brianchesky
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/07/24/ST2009072402126.html

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pg
Airbnb is a good example of how the best startup ideas tend to seem crazy at
first. When we first met the Airbnbs, we loved the founders, but we had a hard
time believing this would be popular. In fact it is massively popular. Few
startups we've funded have grown so fast.

~~~
fraXis
Paul,

Were they accepted the first time they applied?

~~~
pg
Yes. IIRC they got a really good recommendation from the Justin.TV founders.
Then once we met them we were sold too.

~~~
replicatorblog
Paul, have any other teams been accepted to YC with the AirBNB team
composition of 2 non-tech/1 tech founders? It makes sense in their case in
that it is more of a social engineering than tech challenge, but it is an
interesting case.

~~~
pg
Yes. As long as there are people who can do each thing that needs to be done,
we don't care what the ratio is.

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KClough
I would consider being a host, but I'm always concerned possessions may get
stolen having stranger in my apt. I'm surprised this doesn't turn away a lot
of potential hosts.

Still a fantastic idea, and would definitely look to be a guest when traveling
on a budget.

~~~
vaksel
I bet a lot more people are scared of being killed, than they are of having a
few trinkets stolen.

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jlees
I saw or hallucinated an "Airbnb for office space" recently, but can't find it
for love nor money (which is what makes me think it's a hallucination). I
recently spent a bit of time looking for a desk sublet and it took way longer
than it should have. Though I guess there's something of a thorny area with
commercial lettings and the like, it'd still be nice to book a place at some
startup in London/Paris/SF to rest my laptop when I'm next down there for a
few days.

~~~
rokhayakebe
Desk-PC-Coffee-n-Conferenceroom.com

~~~
jrockway
Address not found! ;)

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djb_hackernews
Whats really missing from this article, and is alluded to quite frequently, is
couchsurfing.com I skimmed the article, seems like a great pitch, but I didn't
get why I would want to use airbnb.com over couchsurfing. couchsurfing.com is
pretty mature though not w2.0. It's got the verification system so you can
have some peace of mind, and its free.

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jdbeast00
couchsurfing = free; airbnb = some money. some people wont want to host
someone in their house without compensation.

~~~
djb_hackernews
I get that. But from the perspective of a traveler, for any given well
traveled city you are going to find an equivalent host with equivalent
accommodations at both sites. I wonder if it would have been wiser to start
Airbnb.com as the web 2.0 version of couchsurfing, and then go freemium.
Something couchsurfing wouldn't do.

~~~
mseebach
It's a different target demographic. In a trip to DC recently, we got a
private room on AirBnB and saved roughly $25 pr. night ($75 vs. $100) over the
hotel we'd otherwise have used, and we got a better experience for it.

We didn't feel any obligation to hang out with the host, bring gifts or stay
in touch, or to accommodate our host or anyone else at our home -- which made
things a lot easier.

I think it's more correct to think of AirBnB as cheap hotel, not premium
couchsurfing.

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frossie
Yes, great Washington Post coverage.

Every time I hear about airbnb though, I wonder - don't you need a permit to
offer paid accommodation? For example in my part of the U.S. you need a
"special use" permit to run a B&B. How is advertising your spare room on
airbnb different?

I looked in their FAQ but couldn't find an answer.

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philwelch
I think this falls within the wide category of unenforced laws.

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noodle
and very difficult to enforce.

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frossie
Is it? Around here (Hawaii) there are ordinances in many areas restricting the
number of B&Bs that operate, and neighbours have been known to complain to the
authorities when they see excess traffic to/from a property.

~~~
philwelch
Sounds like the timeless combination of businesses colluding with government
to keep competition out, enforced by tourist-hating among the locals.

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pyre
It isn't necessarily business-government collusion. Those tourist-hating
locals could just as easily have been the ones to 'lobby' local government to
limit these things (probably more like 'abolish,' but 'limit' was the
compromise). There are lots of localities where people try to get 'community
standards' enacted like keeping your lawn trimmed to a standard height or
other such nonsense.

~~~
philwelch
Yes, but restricting the number of foo businesses in town is a boon to the
existing local foo industry, since it protects all current foo businesses from
competition. It's easy for established players to say, "oh yes, regulate us,
make us get scarce operating permits to which we are already grandfathered
into!" to eliminate future competition.

I don't think the collusion is necessarily overt, but most businesses welcome
this kind of barrier to entry.

~~~
frossie
Well, I don't necessarily want to defend it, but I think there is a rationale
to do with infrastructure. In the extreme case where everyone in a Hawaiian
town offered a room to airbnb, the infrastructure would buckle under the
increased population - not enough parking, some places are on cesspools that
have limited capacity, water usage is a problem in some areas etc etc.

Granted there are also financial interests at stake, for example the state
collecting a hefty room tax when people end up in hotels. But then that money
goes to infrastructure among other things, so there is some method in the
madness.

~~~
philwelch
Scaling issues, in other words. All good reasons, but perhaps my cynical
reasons are just as true :)

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fraXis
I was so skeptical when I first say them launch. I was like, "who is going to
use this?". But after reading the article and viewing the site again, I think
my wife and I are going to give it a try. There are so many places listed in
our area with reviews. And it is a lot cheaper then going to a hotel for a
night or weekend.

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browser411
nice article on a yc company. the part i like best: airbnb is a startup that
helps other entrepreneurs starting up by letting them monetize their space,
albeit indirectly. nice!

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nopassrecover
Wow awesome idea - I think I'll probably be using this soon! The question of
security etc. could be an issue but I imagine reviews (which I can't see yet)
would help that.

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10ren
Sounds like backpacking. Great fun, if you're in that frame of mind or want to
be.

