Air Mattress Money

Brian, Joe and Nathan did.

Brian and Joe were designers, roommates and unemployed. They desperately needed money to pay the rent. With a big design show hitting town and accommodations tight … they created a blog and invited people attending the show to stay on air mattresses in their apartment. They’d even cook breakfast. Well three people showed up and paid $80 each. Realizing they might be on to something they invited their friend Nathan to join them and build a website.

They launched at the popular South By South West Festival … but only got two bookings. Friends hoped they were working on something else.

Running out of cash again they came up with another idea … it was an election year so they created boxes of cereal that they sold for $40 each … Obama Os and Captain McCains … they made $30,000 which they promptly invested back in the original website … but more importantly the cereal box initiative attracted the notice of a prominent accelerator group that gave them even more funding … which kept them at it while they struggled getting it right.

Today, just a few short years later, Brian, Joe and Nathan are billionaires .. with their business that helps rent 2 million places around the world … and the company is still named after their initial attempt at renting air mattresses and offering breakfast in the first apartment … AirBNB.

AirBnb a great idea .. because there is always room for innovation in any industry if you just stay at it.