A message from Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky.
When I arrived in Silicon Valley, the term "angel" was widespread, and I could not understand why the first investors were called angels. Thirteen years after Airbnb launched, after hiring thousands of employees, serving millions of guests, and solving countless problems, I now know why some early investors are called angels.
As we end this incredibly difficult year and go on vacation, I contacted many of the people who supported us in the early days to thank them. While there were few people who believed in us, it's safe to say that without Ron Conway, Airbnb would not be what it is today. I want to share a few thoughts on Ron and what he did for Airbnb.
Before I met Ron Conway, I had heard a lot about him. I was told that he has a lot of connections in Silicon Valley, and that we need to draw his attention to our capitalization table - because his book with contacts could be very useful to us. I didn't think at the time that Ron was more than just a walking contact book. Ron has been a guardian angel for a generation of startup founders. In 2010, he invested in Airbnb through his SV Angel fund, and we began a 10-year partnership.
In the spring of 2011, a few years after the launch of Airbnb, the concept finally resonated and our business took off. I was 29 years old and no longer had to sell breakfast cereals with collectible toys to pay my rent. We started raising funds and almost immediately realized that we needed help navigating the situation as the demand surged. I emailed Ron asking for help, and he immediately stepped in, gave me basic directions and helped me through numerous negotiations.
It all came to a head on June 22, 2011, when I came to New York for a tech conference. While I was waiting for the stage, Ron found me and we figured out how to end the round. He pulled out a to-do list and began checking the status of our negotiations with each of the potential investors. I couldn't believe he'd found time for such a tedious job, but we went through the list together and came to the conclusion that the deal would probably be closed that very evening.
Ron and his wife Gail were staying at a hotel in Manhattan, and I stayed there that night - our fate, as expected, was to be decided at the hotel. Gail tried to sleep while Ron and I paced up and down his hotel room with the lights on — we talked to investors on the phone until midnight. I wrote down the final terms of the deal on the hotel's letterhead, which I found in a drawer in the hotel room.
If this was the only time Ron helped me, that would be great. In fact, it was just one of 50 times Ron was there at a crucial moment. Most notably, although Ron was one of our investors, he was not the largest. Ron helped for a reason that went beyond purely financial considerations. Ron worked tirelessly in the evenings, wasting his energy, and he forced everyone to meet high standards.
On January 31, 2013, I was at the tech industry awards ceremony and told the public about the early adopters of Airbnb. I told the crowd, “I have so many to thank, but most of all I would like to thank one person.” I looked dramatically at the ceiling and said, “The man upstairs. Thanks, Ron Conway. " For some reason I wrote this joke, although only I called him that, but I was sure that the others treated him the same way.
Ron Conway and SV Angel Economic Empowerment Award
Ron has always shared our belief that technology can drive economic empowerment. Ron and I also share a desire to inspire more entrepreneurs to create companies that offer economic opportunities to more people and a desire to make the tech industry more diverse and inclusive. In the coming years, I plan to take a number of significant steps to achieve these goals.
One way to do this is to create an economic empowerment award. Ron and I will select one company from Y Combinator working to create opportunities for economic empowerment for people around the world. This company will receive financial support from Airbnb with no strings attached. Ron and I will also mentor them personally with the support of SV Angel and my team at Airbnb.
In conclusion, I want to thank everyone who was with us - our investors, employees, guests, hosts, members of the technology community and many others.
We are not only here because of our own efforts, and we should never believe in myths about people who achieve everything on their own. We stand on the shoulders of others, and today I am full of gratitude to all the people who helped us achieve all this. So the next time you read the story of a company like ours, know that it exists because of people who believed in it - people like Ron.
Brian.
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