First Time Founders with Ed Elson – How Airbnb Scaled from 3 Guests to 2 Billion

Hey, it's Subert. I'm back this week with a brand new episode of Bird's Eye View. I am joined by Portland Fire head coach Alex Surama to discuss bringing his unique coaching style to the WNBA and channeling this year's momentum into the Fires next season. But first, Coach Surama and I break down the action from round one of the playoffs. Make sure to check out Bird's Eye View on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to First Time Founders. I'm Ed Elson. It started in 2007 with an air mattress in a cramped San Francisco apartment. The rent was due, hotels were booked up for a local design conference, and two roommates had an idea. What if they charged

guests to sleep on the floor. That weekend, three strangers stayed in their living room and an industry was quietly born. My next guest helps turn that idea into a platform that has redefined travel. Today it has grown into a global network of over 8 million active listings and 5 million hosts, spanning more than 150,000 cities in 220 countries. It has welcomed over 2 billion guests and in the process it's upended the traditional hospitality industry and reshaped

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (55 minutes, 9,967 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 10 episodes for $5, and monthly plans are cheaper still.