Designers Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, unable to afford their San Francisco rent, create the idea of “AirBed & Breakfast” offering air mattress accommodations and breakfast to conference attendees. This marked the start of an idea that would eventually lead to the creation of their company now known as Airbnb.

With this idea created by Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, they knew in order for them to be successful they needed more technical expertise so they enlisted their former roommate, Nathan Blecharczyk, as the third co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. With all of them together, they developed and launched the AirBed & Breakfast website, expanding their offerings to include various lodging options.

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With the start of this new company, the friends found themselves struggling to secure funding and with the help of a small manufacturer in Berkeley, they gained traction and were invited to a training session of Paul Graham and his startup, Y Combinator. With this training session came $20,000 in funding in exchange for 6% of their company which they accepted. This support enabled them to rebrand as “Airbnb”, broadening their platform to list entire homes, apartments, and private rooms.

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With the company growing and growing, they made the decision to expand internationally and in October of 2011 they established their first international office in London. While this isn’t exactly how they used the resources of land or the materials, they have used the factor of land throughout their entire journey with the use of different housing units and this expansion internationally marks a huge milestone for them.

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The Airbnb IPO date was December 10th, 2020, and the company had officially come into the market. The company announced that it planned to sell 50 million shares at the price $44 to $50 per share and it has been successful in selling a lot of its shares since the start of the Airbnb IPO. This move was smart for Airbnb because it gave them another chance to grow their company and allow the public to invest in their company. This was a major achievement in this companies journey that simply started as a small startup and made its way to the top.

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