The Invention of Air B&B

Did you know that Airbnb was actually built on cereal boxes? Here's how. It's 2007, and these two guys are struggling to make their monthly rent in a San Francisco apartment. But they've got an idea. People are always coming to San Francisco for conferences, and the hotels in the town are totally booked up and totally expensive. So they decide they'll rent out air mattresses on their living room and call it Air Bed and Breakfast. The idea totally flops, and now Brian and Joe, well, they're out of money and drowning in debt. And they're desperate for another idea. And one morning, they're watching the presidential campaign, and they think, political cereal. Believe it or not, the gimmick works. They sell Obama Os and Captain McKeanes charging $40 a box. You think they'd go all in on the cereal idea. I mean, it's definitely a banger. Well, no, they go back to the airbed and breakfast idea, but they still need more money. So they apply to Y Combinator, the most prestigious startup program in Silicon Valley. But Y Combinator's founder doesn't like the idea until he hears about the cereal and he changes his mind about the team. He says, if you can sell $4 boxes of cereal for $40, I believe you could probably get strangers to pay to stay on other people's couches. And today Airbnb hosts over 2 million guests per night.