Hardware Podcasts

Airbnb's Joe Gebbia At The HIBT Summit

How I Built This · 6 Dec 2018 · 16m

What this episode covers

Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, recounts the early days of the company, detailing how he and co-founder Brian Chesky persisted despite overwhelming rejection from investors who called their idea 'stupid' and 'irrational.' Gebbia explains that their conviction came from the visceral, magical experience of hosting three strangers in their own apartment, which proved the potential for human connection despite spreadsheets suggesting failure. He describes the company's iterative process, including four failed launches (for airbeds, SXSW, the DNC, and the 4th attempt) before finding product-market fit, and shares a specific anecdote about personally driving to a stranger's location at 11 PM to solve a critical customer service crisis.

Most relevant to

founders before launch

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Airbnb, Y Combinator, Slack, Glitch, Chronicle Books
Also
Paul Graham, Stuart Butterfield, RISD, SXSW, DNC

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