[bobbylox]

I think there needs to be a moratorium on that AirBnB political cereal box story. "The most important thing to do is to focus on your business, but also it's cool if you spend time on a random side business," is a big mixed message.

[sandslash]

I think the message that I've gotten from that story is that you need to do whatever you can to afford you the means to focus on your business, no matter how un-scaleable it may seem. And that's the attitude we love here at YC.

It's definitely one of my favorite stories, and really serves as a great testament to the idea that staying alive so you can keep working on your product is easily one of the most important things for (early stage) companies.

[beambot]

Would you have ever advocated that move to a portfolio company? I can't imagine any of the partners advocating that tactic during an office hours conversation... It only seems awesome after the fact.

[tomhoward]

My co-founder and I were most certainly advised by YC partners when we were close to hitting the wall: "just do whatever you have to do to keep your company alive – and do it fast!".

The cereal box story serves as a reminder that sometimes it takes the most unlikely, left-field, crazy-seeming idea to get yourself out of the hole.

The one my company pulled was very different to this, but it worked, and the company is now thriving, albeit on a much smaller scale to Airbnb.

Had we not been in the same YC batch as Airbnb and seen up close just what it takes to survive hardship and get to sustainability, it's unlikely we'd have made it.

[aliakhtar]

What did you guys do? If you don't mind sharing it.

[tomhoward]

It's too long/complex a story. I'll write about it one day.

[sandslash]

To answer your question: no, nope, no. Absolutely agree with you there. This anecdote is definitely the most extreme and not-advised route of keeping your company alive. They were extremely lucky this worked at all in their favor. Please don't try this at home :)

There are way more reproducible methods of keeping your company above water, such as reducing burn or spending your time wisely and focusing on your core product (as opposed to adding more and more features no one really wants).

I've heard the Airbnb founders tell their story many times and even they acknowledge this was a last-ditch effort. They ate ramen and cereal for all their meals to extend their bank account and tracked it to the penny. I think that is the point that should be taken from the story; when it comes down to the end of the wire, you should be willing to do whatever you can to stay alive. All cliches aside, startups are hard.

[beambot]

So if I'm reading you right, the tldr: that was a crazy-foolish, low probability move by the airbnb founders rather than a sound "stay alive" strategy. In which case, it should not be fetishized as a "be like them" move (at least in some respects)?

Though it does make for an awesome 'hustle' story (on that, I agree; same with startups being hard). It sounds like they were just having fun, and happened to earn some scratch along the way.

[tomhoward]

Jessica's words were:

They really were doing this because they were out of money. And this is like a Hail Mary for them.

The sensible advice YC partners will always give you is to avoid running out of money.

If you've run out of money, there's not much advice the YC partners can give you, and the only options are to (a) shut down immediately, or (b) throw a Hail Mary.

The lesson here is that if you're the kind of founder who, in a do-or-die situation, can figure out a Hail Mary that actually hits the mark - and if you believe in your idea enough to be willing to try anything to survive, even when nobody else in the world believes in your idea - you're more likely to be the kind of founder who will accomplish huge success in the long term - due to the determination and inspiration you've shown yourself to possess.

Of course, nobody should fetishize getting in a situation where you have to throw a Hail Mary - but as Jessica explains, in the 2008 climate, it was hard to imagine how they could have avoided it.

But offering this story as a perfect example of how determination and inspiration can lead to massive success continues to be entirely appropriate.

[nickpsecurity]

You didn't need to backtrack. Your original comment summed it up nicely: be determined, creative, and willing to do anything necessary for your business to succeed. They did so and cleverly. beambot asking if you'd recommend that specific move any other time is a red herring in the big picture where that move is specific to a moment in time and probably only works once. Point is to make the move that keeps you successful, whatever it may be.

It was a good move, probably only works once, and anyone running a startup about to die should think up something as effective. Lesson learned.

EDIT: Interesting our replies came at almost exactly the same time.

[btrautsc]

I see your point - but don't you think that's kind of a hyper real view of what this "starting a startup" is really about?

Whether its making personal sacrifices, cutting all unnecessary costs, selling "on boarding" you would do anyway for free - whatever it takes to keep the company alive (lots of things that don't scale) end up being significant in the early (and middle-year) history of startups.

Maybe its played, but I still think its a pretty great example of just getting it done by whatever means necessary.

[simonebrunozzi]

I hope people remember that AirBnB spammed Craigslist to grow their user base. Not a great example of ethical behavior, IMHO.

[mbrock]

The takeaway lesson being perhaps that ethical violations are often good for business?

[aliakhtar]

source?

[tedmiston]

> but also it's cool if you spend time on a random side business," is a big mixed message

I don't look at it as a random side business because it provided marketing and helped them raise money when they were broke.

[Mz]

I don't see a mixed message. They did what they had to do to survive as a company rather than become consultants or get jobs because they were that focused on making the company work.

[bobbylox]

But they did get jobs. They got jobs at a humorous cereal box company they founded.

[melvinmt]

Welcome to the contradictory world of Startup Advice: Survival Bias Edition.