Airbnb Enters the World of "Experiences"

Airbnb just announced the next phase of their vision. They want to move beyond accommodations, and focus on creating experiences. They want people to connect based on shared passions, and discover the world through each others' eyes.

This is freaking awesome news.

After two years of working hard to pioneer a model where anyone, anywhere could host an experience, share their passions, and make money doing it, news like this serves as real market validation of our core concept. I'm really excited to see the Big Dogs firmly enter the "Experiences" space.

Airbnb's business model - taking a 20% transaction fee - is even the same as ours was at launch (ours is now free as we're building our new Experiential Learning/Vocational Training paths). We haven't been able to get our own Experience Marketplace - the #besomebody app - humming nationwide yet, as architecting the perfect cadence of supply and demand in each local market has been really challenging. Especially as a small team with limited resources. It's like rubbing two unfamiliar sticks together trying to start a fire - you need the right angle and atmosphere and pressure and pace. We've come close, but we haven't cracked it. But we've seen the power of the idea, and we've witnessed thousands of people's lives become more fun and exciting and enriched from attending or hosting a Besomebody experience. That has been awesome and life-changing.

AirBnb is an amazing company and their story is legendary. They will kick ass at this, not just because of their size and assets - they've raised $4Billion and have a higher valuation ($30Billion) than both Marriott and Hilton - but because they understand the subtle nuances and powerful intangibles of brand building, story telling and emotional connection. They know they are a company about people, not products. They have the scale and the community to win. And they are talking about "passion" and "meaning" and "shared experience" in the same ways we've done for years with Besomebody, and that makes me feel really good. I hope more and more people continue to see the value of EXPERIENCE - whether doing what you love, trying something new, hanging with strangers or friends, or learning something you're passionate about. DOING is living... You have to get off the couch and off the sidelines. You have to get off your ass and go for it. When you do that, your world truly opens up.

While AirBnB's new product is going to serve a slice of the market that we also worked hard to serve the last two years, our new Besomebody Paths will focus on helping people who are hurting the most. Excited to share more about how things are evolving soon. To sign-up for early info on our new Besomebody Learning Paths, you can check out: besomebody.com/paths.

But in the meantime, big congrats to Brian, Joe and the entire team at Airbnb on this huge milestone. We are building this together.

#besomebody.

Kash.