件名 - AIRBNB

2011年3月

昨日、フレッド・ウィルソンがAirbnbを懐かしむという注目すべき記事を投稿しました。ベンチャーキャピタルは優れたスタートアップを見逃すことはよくありますが、ずっと後になるまでそのことを公に語ることは極めて稀です。ですから、その記事はフレッドがいかに珍しい人物であるかをさらに証明しています。彼はおそらく私が知る中で最も素晴らしいベンチャーキャピタルです。

Fred の投稿を読んで、当時 Airbnb への投資を説得しようとして彼とやり取りしたメールを読み返したくなりました。読んでいてとても興味深かったです。Fred が取引を検討している様子がわかります。

フレッドと Airbnb の創設者たちは、このメールのやり取りを公開することを快く承諾してくれました (Airbnb にとって戦略的に重要なことに関する 1 文は編集されていますが、会話の重要な部分ではありません)。これは、参加者以外にはほとんど目にすることのないスタートアップ エコシステムの要素、つまり、投資家がポートフォリオ企業への投資を互いに説得しようとしている様子を、興味深く表しています。現在、この種の会話は数百、いや数千回行われていますが、公開されたことがあるとしても、私は見たことがありません。Airbnb の創設者たち自身も、当時これらのメールを見たことがありません。

YC では、このような裏方的な作業をたくさん行っています。なぜなら、私たちは非常に多くの企業に投資しており、しかも非常に早い段階で投資するため、投資家がそのメリットを理解するには、かなりの説得が必要になることがあるからです。ただし、私はいつもこれほど一生懸命努力しているわけではありません。フレッドは私をかなりうっとうしいと感じていたに違いありません。

 from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson, AirBedAndBreakfast Founders date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 11:42 AM subject: meet the airbeds One of the startups from the batch that just started, AirbedAndBreakfast, is in NYC right now meeting their users. (NYC is their biggest market.) I'd recommend meeting them if your schedule allows. I'd been thinking to myself that though these guys were going to do really well, I should introduce them to angels, because VCs would never go for it. But then I thought maybe I should give you more credit. You'll certainly like meeting them. Be sure to ask about how they funded themselves with breakfast cereal. There's no reason this couldn't be as big as Ebay. And this team is the right one to do it. --pg from: Brian Chesky to: Paul Graham cc: Nathan Blecharczyk, Joe Gebbia date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 11:40 AM subject: Re: meet the airbeds PG, Thanks for the intro! Brian from: Paul Graham to: Brian Chesky cc: Nathan Blecharczyk, Joe Gebbia date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 12:38 PM subject: Re: meet the airbeds It's a longshot, at this stage, but if there was any VC who'd get you guys, it would be Fred. He is the least suburban-golf-playing VC I know. He likes to observe startups for a while before acting, so don't be bummed if he seems ambivalent. --pg from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham, date: Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 5:28 PM subject: Re: meet the airbeds Thanks Paul We are having a bit of a debate inside our partnership about the airbed concept. We'll finish that debate tomorrow in our weekly meeting and get back to you with our thoughts Thanks Fred from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson date: Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 10:48 PM subject: Re: meet the airbeds I'd recommend having the debate after meeting them instead of before. We had big doubts about this idea, but they vanished on meeting the guys. from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham date: Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 11:08 AM subject: RE: meet the airbeds We are still very suspect of this idea but will take a meeting as you suggest Thanks fred from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham, AirBedAndBreakfast Founders date: Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 11:09 AM subject: RE: meet the airbeds Airbed team - Are you still in NYC? We'd like to meet if you are Thanks fred from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson date: Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 1:42 PM subject: Re: meet the airbeds Ideas can morph. Practically every really big startup could say, five years later, "believe it or not, we started out doing ___." It just seemed a very good sign to me that these guys were actually on the ground in NYC hunting down (and understanding) their users. On top of several previous good signs. --pg from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham date: Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 7:15 AM subject: Re: meet the airbeds It's interesting Our two junior team members were enthusiastic The three "old guys" didn't get it from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson date: Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 5:58 PM subject: airbnb The Airbeds just won the first poll among all the YC startups in their batch by a landslide. In the past this has not been a 100% indicator of success (if only anything were) but much better than random. --pg from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham date: Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 5:29 PM subject: Re: airbnb I met them today They have an interesting business I'm just not sure how big it's going to be fred from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson date: Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 9:50 AM subject: Re: airbnb Did they explain the long-term goal of being the market in accommodation the way eBay is in stuff? That seems like it would be huge. Hotels now are like airlines in the 1970s before they figured out how to increase their load factors. from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham date: Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 2:05 PM subject: Re: airbnb They did but I am not sure I buy that ABNB reminds me of Etsy in that it facilitates real commerce in a marketplace model directly between two people So I think it can scale all the way to the bed and breakfast market But I am not sure they can take on the hotel market I could be wrong But even so, if you include short term room rental, second home rental, bed and breakfast, and other similar classes of accommodations, you get to a pretty big opportunity fred from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson date: Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 12:21 AM subject: Re: airbnb So invest in them! They're very capital efficient. They would make an investor's money go a long way. It's also counter-cyclical. They just arrived back from NYC, and when I asked them what was the most significant thing they'd observed, it was how many of their users actually needed to do these rentals to pay their rents. --pg from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham date: Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:21 AM subject: Re: airbnb There's a lot to like I've done a few things, like intro it to my friends at Foundry who were investors in Service Metrics and understand this model I am also talking to my friend Mark Pincus who had an idea like this a few years ago. So we are working on it Thanks for the lead Fred from: Paul Graham to: Fred Wilson date: Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 10:00 PM subject: airbnb already spreading to pros I know you're skeptical they'll ever get hotels, but there's a continuum between private sofas and hotel rooms, and they just moved one step further along it. [link to an airbnb user] This is after only a few months. I bet you they will get hotels eventually. It will start with small ones. Just wait till all the 10-room pensiones in Rome discover this site. And once it spreads to hotels, where is the point (in size of chain) at which it stops? Once something becomes a big marketplace, you ignore it at your peril. --pg from: Fred Wilson to: Paul Graham date: Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 4:26 AM subject: Re: airbnb already spreading to pros That's true. It's also true that there are quite a few marketplaces out there that serve this same market If you look at many of the people who list at ABNB, they list elsewhere too I am not negative on this one, I am interested, but we are still in the gathering data phase. fred