The Future of Airbnb After Its IPO?
I liked Airbnb from the very beginning, and I can tell you exactly why.
First of all, Airbnb is a marketplace that connects guests with landlords. This is a very difficult type of marketplace to make successful, but once you achieve a critical mass of users, it’s incredibly hard to replicate. This is because people looking for places to stay will always gravitate towards the largest selection of spaces, and landlords with space to rent will always post their properties where there are the largest number of potential buyers. The first company to achieve this combination creates an enormous barrier to entry for their competitors. This allows them to monetize the site deeply without fear of losing their customers. Airbnb was a first-mover in opening up a new source of real estate that was untapped by competitors. This gave them a big first-mover advantage.
