
How This Entrepreneur Raised $28,000 Using Airbnb to Fund Her Startup - dwynings
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2012/02/20/how-this-entrepreneur-raised-28000-using-airbnb-to-fund-her-startup/
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jwblackwell
Very inspiring. If you watch the video interview
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFaCkCRhl2I>) she talks about generating
traffic and using inbound marketing (including some sneaky tactics!).

They are doing 350,000 uniques a month now with ZERO paid marketing.

Rand from SEOmoz would be proud.

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staunch
Looks like Andrew Warner helped Suster write that headline :-)

This was a really great interview though. Definitely recommend watching it.

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redguava
I think this highlights the difference between justifying to yourself that you
are doing everything possible to make it work... and actually doing everything
possible to make it work. The difference is significant but often hard to see
when it's yourself.

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vrikhter
The persistence that Suster describes in Tracy is what's most impressive. She
simply did not stop. She had a goal in mind and no challenges were going to
stop her, she would find a way around them. Love it!

One of the easiest way to figure out if an entrepreneur is going to make it or
not is by asking them about their challenges. In my experience people either
fall into the category of making excuses about why they haven't overcome their
challenges or they tell incredible stories of how they found a clever way to
overcome them...note: they themselves don't think its incredible, they just
did what was necessary.

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ChrisNorstrom
Pffft. Typical women entrepreneurs with their bootstrapping to stability and
growing their business steadily and by not taking crazy, stupid, and extreme
risks or clearing out their kid's collage funds and piling on debt.

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irahul
Going by the reply to your comment(which is dead - I have 'show dead' set in
my preferences), I see Poe's law in action
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poes_law>

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ChrisNorstrom
Yeah, I've fallen for a few of those too. I like using them though, it keeps
everyone on their toes.

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yogrish
The approach she took to raise funds is very inspiring. Great story.

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sl4yerr
Airbnb aside, it's nice to read articles about actual boot-strapped startups,
free of the Silicon Valley VC infrastructure. The force-feeding from SV gets
tiresome.

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lurker14
1\. Another way to raise $28K is to move into a smaller apartment.

2\. That $28K was almost certainly not legally reported to the IRS as income.
Does anyone found a startup these days without breaking the law?

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guynamedloren
Not really sure what compelled you to comment here.. but why the negativity?
Yeah, there are a ton of ways to raise $28k. This article is about how _she_
did it. Of course she could have moved into a smaller apartment. Or she could
have lived almost free with family/friends. Or she could have saved _all_ her
money and lived on the street. /facetiousness

The takeaway is that she had a goal and she made use of her resources to
accomplish that goal.

Regarding your second statement - that's just ignorant.

