Yes thats a possibility- however I haven't gotten food poisoning from any of my friends or family before. When I was younger, I did get a bad milk from a restaurant.
IMO the problem isn't that he looks 20, but rather that he looks pretty douchey in that photo. Looking young isn't so bad in this context, but looking like you just stepped off of the set of one of those MTV 'reality' shows is.
I'm fairly certain this is going to get me down-voted through the floor, but please at least view the picture in question prior to down-voting me for saying this.
It was my impression too that the photo could be appropriate.
EDIT: I've edited my comment to make it more constructive. Brian, I think you are doing a great job with AirBNB and handling this situation. Please take these comments as constructive criticism regarding the photo (in this particular situation).
To be fair, I think it's a decent smile, but the lighting, combined with Brian's dark eyebrows, creates this shadow which is easy to interpret as slightly sinister.
If his head was raised slightly and lit more strongly, I don't think you'd feel the same way.
Sorry Brian, but it was my first reaction as well. I showed a friend the pic and asked "what do you think of this person?" and she said "he's evil and creepy" :(
If it were me, I would just take a quick snapshot right now and replace that photo temporarily, until you can get some better professional shots.
No really, open Photo Booth and take a brighter picture, right now.
Studies have shown that the first impression you get of a piece colors your perception even after you read the whole thing. Pictures have a stronger immediate emotional reaction than words do, and while the bolded "we will be implementing a $50,000 Airbnb Guarantee" definitely gives an immediate "wow, nice" feeling, it'd be even better if it wasn't dampened by the initial "uh, who's the Bond villain?"
For what it's worth I think that the photo looks perfectly fine. I'd be a very happy person if I could photograph that well. Customers don't care how professional the profile pictures look. They care about their experience using the service itself.
I hesitated to even bring it up because I didn't know how to say it without it sounding like a personal attack, but FWIW, I didn't mean it as one.
We all have photos taken of us that convey personalities that aren't really our own. I don't think you're a douche, but the photo gives that impression a bit.
Yo man: f these haters. Even the well meaning ones with their rubbernecking advice, even the fellow YC alums who don't understand that when a man has just been through hell and back that the last thing he needs is more people piling on with "constructive criticism" in an open forum. A lot of people tried to kill you just now, with a few like Melinda Byerley openly admitting that this was just an opportunity to express their envy and hatred.
For PR reasons you need to smile, even as JimmyL critiques the sincerity of your orthodontics. Smile on the outside and ask them in a chipper tone how you can be of service, but in the end, seriously, f* em. There's an insane amount of implementation work to do to get this 24/7 support and insurance program operational. F* em all and just plow. Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And your real customers and fans will thank you for it.
I immediately thought of Joey L's logging style, which is similar to Greenberg's. Basically, the really strong lighting on the sides and relatively dark front of face looks like his work for the Twilight movie posters.
I don't think he looks like a douche, but I thought that picture was a stock photo of someone who was supposed to represent the criminal who started the whole mess.
Have any news sources stated whether or not EJ owns the place that got ransacked? I often see it referred to as her "apartment" in various places and was curious if she actually owned it or was a renter who was subletting it herself? Perhaps part of the problem Airbnb has coming fully clean with the entire story is the whole can of worms that potentially opens up if/when it becomes common knowledge that a lot of their business is built on subletting that isn't even technically legal (according to most rental contracts) in the first place.
I quickly rented a place of my own and began to settle in – unpacking dusty boxes, unloading suitcases and scouring the internet for furniture. Something along the lines of a home began to take shape, and with it came that invaluable feeling of being at peace.
I can easily imagine they are done for. Not because of the PR backlash, but because what they are doing is already quasi-illegal in a lot of places and one juicy story like this that the media, lawyers and politicians can jump on is just about all it will take to eventually remove the "quasi" part.
The criminals already know everything about her (real name, likely her social security number, etc), what on earth does she have to lose by "extremely public" blogging?
This post is spot on and the fact that airbnb keeps tripping over this point is just baffling. Are they ignorant or evil? They have to be one or the other.
Isn't it common sense that asking someone "What can we do to help?" is about as useful as yelling "Someone call an ambulance!" to a crowd? Anyone with half a lick of sense says "Hey, YOU (Point), call an ambulance" or "Here's what we're going to do to help you..." (and then actually do it). How can you be the CEO of what is supposedly a billion+ dollar company without realizing these basic things?
All of this discussion about what airbnb should or shouldn't do is ultimately moot now. Unless they can prove "EJ" is totally fictional and/or an insane liar the company is essentially dead in the water already (at least as a US operation). Not just because of the PR hit (though that is substantial), but because of the inevitability of media, lawyers & politicians circling the wagons around this story.
Airbnb's business will be explicitly illegal throughout much of the US by year's end, and honestly in its current incarnation I'm not convinced that it is a bad thing (for obvious reasons this is clearly a market which needs more regulation and process than they provide).
Nice experiment... too bad about all of that flushed away money though.
