Airbnb and the Cereal Pivot

" In 2008, Airbnb founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nate Blecharczyk were deep in debt roughly $40,000 and desperate for traction. They had built a platform for hosting guests on air mattresses, but bookings were rare. They had no cash, no momentum, and the global financial crisis was starting to cut down whatever hope they had. "

Desperate times called for creativity. A marketing stunt: limited-edition cereals Obama Os and Capn McCains hand-glued in their kitchen using cheap Cheerios. They packaged them as collector‐s items at $40 a box, selling 1,000 units in just days at the Democratic convention. The stunt raised $30,000, grabbed media attention, and demonstrated scrappy hustle.The cereal sale bought enough runway to apply (late) to Y Combinator. Paul Graham later admitted, if you can convince people to pay $40 for a $4 cereal box, you can probably convince people to sleep on airbeds. Accepted in January 2009, Airbnb received $20,000 seed funding then refined their product by personally photographing listings in New York. That attention to detail doubled bookings. Today, Airbnb hosts more than 600,000 properties across 190+ countries and is one of the biggest hospitality brands worldwide