The first-ever investor pitch
deck for $31 billion startup
Airbnb
A LYSON S HONTELL | F EBRUARY 2019
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KEY POINTS
• Airbnb was founded in 2008 as "AirBed&Breakfast." The idea: To
let travelers rent air mattresses from locals.
• The company went through Y Combinator, a prestigious startup
accelerator in Silicon Valley. It put together a pitch deck to raise
its first round of capital.
• The pitch deck shows how a $31 billion startup started out —
Airbnb would go on to raise over $3 billion and become one of
the most successful digital companies ever.
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Airbnb is one of the greatest startup success stories of late.
It stumbled throughout its first year before exploding. Now, it has raised
more than $3 billion at a $31 billion valuation and it's nearing an IPO.
The founders shared its first pitch deck with an MBA student, back when it
wanted to be an air mattress rental company.
Here's what a $31 billion startup looks like when it's just getting going.
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In 2008, when Airbnb was founded, it was called
"AirBed&Breakfast."
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Back then, there were things like couch surfing, but there
really wasn't an easy way to book a room with a local, which
the founders thought could be cheaper than hotels.
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The solution was a "share culture," where locals could make
money renting space on their floors via air mattresses to
strangers.
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There were already 630,000 users on competitor site,
Couchsurfing.com. So there was some interest in the space.
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The team believed the opportunity was big. Paul Graham,
Airbnb's first investor through startup accelerator Y
Combinator, wrote an email to fellow investor Fred Wilson
expressing his optimism for the company: "There's no reason
this couldn't be as big as Ebay. And this team is the right one
to do it," he wrote in 2009.
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Here's what an early version of Airbnb looked like.
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Unlike a lot of startups, which aim to amass big audiences
first, then worry about revenue second, Airbnb always had a
plan to make money. It wanted to take 10% of each rental
transaction.
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To spread the word about Airbnb, the founders planned to
throw events, partner with booking services, and use good
old Craigslist.
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Craigslist was perhaps its biggest competitor. That and
Hotels.com, the founders concluded.
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The idea for Airbnb now seems like a no-brainer. And it turns
out the founders were right about a lot of their competitive
advantages. Ease of use, brand and host incentives have all
helped the company scale to massive success, and billions in
revenue.
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