Re:Airbnb Files to Raise $850M at $30B Valuation
by ethanbond on Saturday August 06, 2016 @04:39PM
(#12239800)
Why does everyone think that a competitor must be able to operate at the scale of Uber/Airbnb the day it's released? How many taxi commissions thought "oh no one can dethrone us, no one has 10,000 cars!"
Re:Airbnb Files to Raise $850M at $30B Valuation
by thesimpsons1022 on Sunday August 07, 2016 @02:53AM
(#12241329)
Because I travel to paris one week and new york the other and seattle the other. If the listings aren't at all those places I discard the app and never use it again.
Re:Airbnb Files to Raise $850M at $30B Valuation
by dispatcher68 on Saturday August 06, 2016 @05:57PM
(#12240091)
Uber does not have meaningful network effects. Airbnb does.
A competitor would need to be more than marginally better to compete subscale, as Airbnb was vs craigslist or original vrbo.
Re:Airbnb Files to Raise $850M at $30B Valuation
by spaceflunky on Saturday August 06, 2016 @03:33PM
(#12239524)
I agree with 1 and 3. 2 and especially 4 don't resonate. Would love to know how you describe 'economies of scale' at Airbnb
Peter Thiel's Zero To One described four pillars that were necessary for a monopoly. It appears Airbnb has most if not all of these.
1. Network effects - this is usually more important than proprietary tech. They have this - global network effect. This is not a "retail company" any more than Amazon's 3rd party marketplace or Alibaba's is.
2. Tech - read blog and decide for yourself. It's easy to imagine at sub-scale also being able to build Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Most of the challenges come at scale (and are protected by #1 above).
3. Brand - the commenters seem to agree they have this.
4. Economies of scale - they have this.