Brian Chesky
Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk
Airbnb
Investors we very skeptical about Airbnb
business model years ago. It was tough to
convince them that it was something they
can buy into. Even though Airbnb’s market
valuations is on the border of $25 billion,
it is still battling with resistance from
critics who still renounce the viability of
their model and others who simply refuse
to accept it.
Many investors that the three co-founders
approached for funding during the early stages
of the business didn’t even sit throughout the
pitches; they walked out.
Nathan, one of the co-founders, said in
an interview with the Business Insider,
“If you wait for perfection, you will miss
some epic opportunities.”
Joe Gebbia, the CEO once advised that rather
than a “No, don’t do that” attitude,
entrepreneurs need to have a “Yes, but please
come up with a solution [attitude],” he said.
Nathan went on to say “Entrepreneurial
success is less about the idea and more
about the person. “All along the way,
people said, ‘No, this isn’t going to work,
don’t do this.”
Failure shouldn’t tantamount the end of our
journeys. Instead, it should strengthen us to
take risks and disrupt the status quo with
greater force.
Despite those hard hitting rejections and struggles, Airbnb has shown remarkable growth
over the years. Airbnb now has over one million listings in over 190 countries.