Alex Vacca 🧠🛠️'s Linkedin Analytics

Airbnb's founders were 72 hours from giving up. But one cold email changed everything. Today? $100B+ valuation. In 2008, Airbnb had already relaunched twice with no traction. - They tried raising $150K at a $1.5M valuation. - But 5 investors passed. - 2 didn’t even reply. They were stuck, out of options and out of time. At a Thai restaurant in SF, they met Justin Kan (co-founder of Twitch) who told them to apply to Y Combinator. But when they checked the site… The deadline had already passed that day. It looked like they’d missed their shot but Justin didn’t give up. He emailed YC’s Paul Graham directly. "Are applications 100% closed? There’s a company called AirBed & Breakfast that might be worth a look.” Paul replied within minutes. “Tell them to apply today” They rushed home and submitted their application later that night. But what Paul Graham told them next? That’s what changed everything. “Stop coding, fly to New York, and take better listing photos.” They took his advice and doubled their revenue within days. They realized they were trying to code out of a problem requiring manual efforts. “Do things that don’t scale” became part of Airbnb’s DNA. So if it feels like it’s not working, that doesn’t mean it won’t. Success usually comes after everyone else quits. Keep building.