Since the start of the year, the word ‘AirBnB’ has gained notoriety in Kenyan airspace for all the wrong reasons. It has become vilified and abhorred following the gruesome murders that have occurred within the year’s first 2 weeks.
In many cases, what Kenyans refer to as ‘Airbnb’ is not associated with the official company Airbnb. Instead, individuals often rent out apartment spaces and advertise them as Airbnb accommodations without being officially registered on the platform.
So how did this famous term come about?
Long before the company became worth $4 billion, the idea was as a result of serendipity. The year was 2007, and two roommates, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn’t afford rent in San Francisco.
However, they knew that a big conference was coming to town, and all hotels would be fully packed. The innovative pair decided to turn their loft into a designer’s bed & breakfast.
This was just a way to make a few bucks. They also agreed to offer tour guide services.
They created a simple website, airbedandbreakfast.com and bought 3 mattresses and arranged them in their apartment. They first had 3 guests, two men and a woman. Each paid $80.
Soon, Gebbia and Chesky realized how big their idea was. They invited an old roomie, Nathan Blecharcyzk to help build them into a business.
However, they couldn’t go full-scale with their idea. They tried to get funding from venture capitalists. 15 angel investors they had pitched the idea to left them with 8 rejections and 7 people ignoring them.
The company had to switch to self-funding and look for a shorter name, hence Airbnb. Since 2011, the company despite its initial struggles became very popular and grew its international market. Today, Airbnb is worth $4 billion and its growth is only expected to keep rising.
Airbnb is widely accepted as the most compatible and best alternative to hotel spaces or any other vacation rental website. It stacks on top of all its other competitors.
Owners Networth
As per Wikipedia, the founders of Airbnb are worth a lot of dollars for being quite a new company.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO, reportedly has a net worth of $3.8 billion while Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk are worth $4.2 billion each.
