"Airbnb for X" startup ideas, now done by Airbnb lol
Perhaps they can use AI to create bespoke services?
Maybe I can rent other people's compute and prompt engineering, a sort of uber-for-openai-for-airbnb-for-x operation
wow YC S25 right there. i'll build the tools that power your operation, a cursor-for-yc-for-uber-for-openai-for-airbnb-for-x
Re:Airbnb Is in Midlife Crisis Mode
by MyPasswordSucks on Wednesday May 14, 2025 @03:19PM
(#43988234)
Utilizing unused processor cycles seems interesting! Those cycles are just sitting there in people's homes, waiting to be harnessed. So maybe you should call it something-At-Home.
I dunno, now that I typed it it seems a bit awkward. How about "something@home"...?
Quote
“I don’t know if I want to call it a social network, because of the stigma associated with it,” says Ari Balogh, Airbnb’s CTO. So they employ a fuzzier term. “We think of it as a connection platform,” he says. “You’re going to see us build a lot more stuff on top of it, although we’re not an advertising system, thank goodness.” (My own observation is that any for-profit company that can host advertising will, but whatever.)
End quote
Launching a communications tool in 2025 that isn't one of the two overly trod spaces (the advertising-hyperengagement loop of instagram, etc. or the people-you-already-know of whatsapp) is a genuine moonshot in a way that "what if airbnb but for manicures" isn't, and it's something that an incumbent like Airbnb could do that would be impractical for anyone else.