Two weeks ago, Rachel Botsman (author of What's Mine Is Yours) appeared on Sunrise Channel 7 and stated that "You can't copy Airbnb, it is a community".
While I'm not an official spokesperson, I can share this response from our team. The founders of Airbnb brought the idea of a community marketplace for sharing spaces/properties to the world. Airbnb changed the way people travel and share experiences on a global scale. Airbnb is not just a website, and its not a product. Airbnb is a community. Other sites may borrow our concept or copy our design, but the genuine, trusted relationships our community fosters cannot be replicated through a few lines of code. Airbnb has become a movement. Personally, what also interests me is seeing people that get inspired by what we do. Those that have extended the concept of Airbnb to new innovation. I've been following Techcrunch Disrupt NYC, and Uber shared the same stage as Airbnb with a concept of shared private cabs. The winner of the hackathon challenge was GoGetCars (shared cars). There are exciting websites like Vayable (unique travel experiences) which just got accepted into Y Combinator and met through Airbnb. Look at Housefed, get a homecooked meal whereever you are (the Airbnb for meals). I've seen another one for sharing private jets. You see so many startups now calling themselves "The Airbnb of X", which is really cool. I wake up everyday excited about working for Airbnb cause I know that it is going to be a very special company. I'm energised by the people that I interact with in our Airbnb community and also my Airbnb colleagues overseas. I'll also share this with you all - when I met with Airbnb in the US, I knew who they were but I didn't fully comprehend the impact they were going to have (I don't think anyone could have!). I met the founders Brian and Joe, and most of the team in San Francisco and I thought that they were really down to earth, and also very cool people. Later that day, I met Elias Bizannes and he helped convince me that Airbnb was THE company I had to join (I owe him for this piece of advice!). A few weeks later, I became their first hire in Australia. I'm occassionally at Silicon Beach, so if you see me around I'll talk your ear off about Airbnb!! Cheers, Matt Ho Airbnb @inspiredworlds On Jun 14, 12:41 pm, Kate Kendall <kendall.k...@gmail.com> wrote: > I was recently at Aibnb HQ chatting about their "competition" and have just > read this TechCrunch piece from last week, which brought the issue to mind > again. > > http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/09/airbnb/<http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/09/airbnb/> > > I find the whole thing pretty fascinating. Basically, people like the German > Samwer brothers, build clones of popular North American sites, grow a user > base and then try to sell the company back to the original. Often > successfully. > > Obviously we don't see it to this extent in Australia but a lot of what we > have is certainly inspired. > > It also makes me think of the following quote: > > "It is better to *fail* in originality than to succeed in *imitation*." > Herman Melville > > Just wanted to gauge your opinion... > > Cheers, > > Kate > > @katekendall > <http://twitter.com/katekendall>http://thefetch.orghttp://katekendall.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
