Back in 2007, Airbnb founders moved to SFO after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design. Having no jobs, they struggled to pay rent. Seeing how often hotels would get fully booked — especially during conferences or events — they sensed an opportunity.They came up with a concept of an “Air Bed & Bfast.” The idea was to offer an air mattress & breakfast in their apartment. Given the relatively low $80/night charge, they swiftly managed to secure three guests. This marked the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey.Inspite of initial success, they struggled to get more users. Needing cash to remain afloat, they reached out to potential investors. After meeting 15 angel investors, all of them ended up passing on the idea, with half not even replying to Airbnb introductory email.Out of desperation, they decided to use credit card for short term funding. That quickly escalated to multiple credit cards and eventually led to Brian racking up $30K in credit card debt.Hoping to get more users, they targeted the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado where Obama was set to speak in front of 80K people. Although usage spiked, but they didn’t witness traction necessary enough to pay off their debt.Since air beds were not working they thought of selling Bfast cereals. As presidential campaigns gained momentum, they made use of their skills to develop custom-designed cereal boxes - “Obama O’s: The Breakfast of Change” & “Capn’ McCains: A Maverick in Every Bite.”After securing hundreds of printed boxes from a Rhode Island School of Design connection, they bought the cheapest cereal in the market and filled up shopping carts. Back in their apartment, they hand-folded the boxes and sealed them with a hot-glue gun.By pitching it as a limited-edition collector item, they sold them for $40/box. They ended up selling cereals worth $30K. And that’s how they remained afloat.This strategy also helped them raise money on Y Combinator & thereafter they never looked back.There is no overnight success. Founders were creative when they had the least resources and they believed in their product.Even for a company like Airbnb, it took more than a year to secure investor funding.Today as of 2020, the company has over 150 million users worldwide, properties listed in 100,000 cities & valuation in the range of $18-40 bn based on recent funding. One can safely assume that the co-founders won’t be piling up any credit card debt in the near future.As Robert Jordan rightly said in The Fires of Heaven"The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived"A super story on #resilience #determination and #selfbelief #mlndollarminds~~~~~~~Please follow back for more such stories.Also, I will shortly launch my ebook on r/gumroad which will have more such stories.So stay tuned for more updates.~~~~~~~ see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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