How did #AirBnB get its first Customer?

Strategy: PR

The AirBNB story starts even before officially launching AirbedandBreakfast (the early version of AirBNB). Being short on rent, founders Brian, Nathan and Joe decided to rent out three airbeds in their apartment. There was a designer conference coming up in San Francisco and all the hotels were fully booked. They figured out there was a demand for a place to stay and they could supply it. They quickly turned to a PR campaign that started by emailing local designer blogs about the three available spots. Some websites covered their story, which quickly turned into other blogs picking up their story. They ended up renting out the three airbeds rather quickly. After their initial success, they realized there might be more demand around the country, so they started looking for other conferences and locals that wanted to rent out their apartment. Funny enough, early listings required people to actually put an airbed in their apartment, instead of providing a regular bed. This was quickly set aside and turned the idea into the unicorn that we know today.