codeconstruct

Please find a summary below of one of the sessions at this year’s PSFK Conference.

“The story begins in 2000, during my freshman year at the Rhode Island School of Design.”

What He Said: Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, a community marketplace for people to list, discover and book unique spaces around the world, spoke about the key role story telling played in both of his start-up journeys. While a student at Rhode Island School of Design, he designed a seat cushion to help students get through crits – or art critiques – comfortably. This was based on his own observation, inspiration and persistence make this somewhat quirky idea come to life.  And he made sure to feature the genesis of CritBins on the actual product itself.  Three years ago, Gebbia did it again.  He co-founded airbnb after discovering that most San Francisco hotels were booked for a large conference and that he could offer people his home and an air mattress and make money/ pay his rent.  Here, too, he leveraged the personal story of him and his roommates to help tell the brand story of this startup (which has experienced 800% since its founding).

What We Heard: Both of the ideas Gebbia spoke of were remarkable in their simplicity. He was young, he saw an opportunity, and he went for it. And it’s these young, fearless entrepreneurs who are not re-inventing the traditional business model, but doing it over and over again.

by Joe Gebbia, Airbnb.