Airbnb's Lessons in Overcoming Setbacks

The above email started because two guys, Brian and Joe, could not pay their rent. 2007.

The email hatches an idea to rent three air mattresses on the floor and serve people breakfast and a place to sleep.

So, Brian and Joe build a website featuring a blog, allowing people to find their location with maps and alert them of their availability. People find their services by logging onto www.airbedandbreakfast.com

The first time they make their place available, three people show up, two men, one woman, each paying $80 for a one night stay.

Once their guests left, Brian and Joe thought, “We might have something here.”

So, they invited their former roommate, Nathan, to join their idea. 2008

They launched their idea at SXSW in Austin and received two bookings. Progress.

The trio got a lifeline from Paul Graham, who invested $20K to officially launch the company.

They were making just $20 a week, with no growth or progress. Is anyone ready to quit yet?

Brian, Joe and Nathan realized the photos sent in by potential renters were not appealing. This needed to be fixed.

They went door to door in New York City and took photos themselves. It was a shrewd move that made a big difference.

All three are now making $400/week. Some progress. 2009.

They met with a venture capitalist to secure more funding and were told absolutely not— bad idea.

Famous singer Barry Manilow’s drummer rents an entire house. A major milestone..

Raised $600K in a seeding round from Sequoia. Big-time progress.

They raised an additional $18.4M from investors, including Ashton Kutcher. 2010.

In 2014, Airbnb became valued at $10B.

We all have ideas of how we can develop our teams, our groups, our business. But when we hit the first stumbling block, when we hit the first stumbling block, we often fold and give up because we fail to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We believed this would happen overnight so we lose faith and become impatient. And even though we’re told nothing happens overnight, we still expect the overnight sensation.

If anyone has been charged to turn a team an organization around, don’t expect an overnight sensation. Don’t expect anything to come easy. Expect only to work hard.

Just know if you have the right idea and work toward fulfilling it without concerning yourself about profits along the way, you have a chance for major success — as long as you don’t quit at the first sign of trouble.

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