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This is the inaugral piece at S.A. and we begin with the inspiring story of how AirBnb fell into place. There are some stories that highlight how ‘luck’ plays an important role in the execution of a big idea. Which may be true, even though many would debate the ideologies of ‘luck’ & ‘hard work’, but that’s a discussion for some other day.
This story, however will motivate you to believe in the power of simplicity. a billion-dollar idea doesn’t have to be rocket science, it can be as simple as letting your place out for rent. How an ordinary concept can be made into billion dollar idea with a simple insight and a bit of improvisation (you’re about to find out).
Brian Chesky, CEO & Co-founder of AirBnB, tells you something similar in his interview at Stanford.
“It wasn’t supposed to be the big idea”, “…it was supposed to be a way to pay the rent while we thought up the big idea.”
In 2007, Brian and AirBnB co-founder, Joe Gebbia, were broke and decided to make rent by renting a part of their house during a design show nearby.
“We didn’t have any beds, so we pulled three airbeds out of the closet, inflated them, and called it the Air Bed & Breakfast.”
Air Bed & Breakfast – AirBnB. You catching our drift?
And no even though it sounds it, that’s not how the idea became a business.
“When I went home for Christmas, my parents asked what I was doing . I didn’t want to say I was unemployed so I said I was an entrepreneur.”
“When they asked what I was working on I told them about the Air bed and breakfast idea. After thinking about the idea more and talking about it more I decided that we should go back to the drawing board and do this idea.”
A cover-up story to save face in front of his folks, became his billion-dollar idea.
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