I recently had the great opportunity of speaking with one of the founders of AirBnB and asked him a very similar set of questions. I do not want to quote him, and it was definitely an informal conversation, but I will paraphrase some of the very important points that he made about startups in general and the approach they took to gaining users. I have found this information really useful in my own startup and I would love to share with all of you.
One thing they focused on was their core users. Listening to them, almost to the point of not being scalable. Going to the houses of the people that were registered and asking them questions like "What is the hardest part or most undesirable part of using our product?". That kind of engagement has 2 real benefits: 1. You get real concrete answers about what to fix and 2. It turns your users into excited, advocates for your product. A key point here is scalability. Sometimes it's a good thing to ignore scalable solutions in a startup in order to get things going ( a common mistake I have made on a number of occasions).
Another point that he made about their work was providing high quality pictures and content on their website. They spent time going with (rented) wide lens cameras to users house's to take high quality pictures to put up. This aesthetic change can produce a much stronger sense of trust in a service and is something that all founders should think about.
Very good points. Every time I go to www.airbnb.com, I'm always struck by the extremely high quality of the photos on their home page. It's a small thing that definitely goes a long way in getting people excited to use the site. When I see a beautiful photo of a beautiful home, I want to stay there.
Hey, Tim Jahn here, the interviewer at Beyond The Pedway!
Nathan told me a similar story. He mentioned in our interview that they went to New York and literally talked to every Airbnb user there to get major feedback.
Hi Tim! Glad I can provide more info. Yep, apparently it was in the middle of winter too. Trekking camera gear all over the place. All in all, their grassroots story is very inspiring to any startup founder. I have a lot of respect for those guys.
One thing they focused on was their core users. Listening to them, almost to the point of not being scalable. Going to the houses of the people that were registered and asking them questions like "What is the hardest part or most undesirable part of using our product?". That kind of engagement has 2 real benefits: 1. You get real concrete answers about what to fix and 2. It turns your users into excited, advocates for your product. A key point here is scalability. Sometimes it's a good thing to ignore scalable solutions in a startup in order to get things going ( a common mistake I have made on a number of occasions).
Another point that he made about their work was providing high quality pictures and content on their website. They spent time going with (rented) wide lens cameras to users house's to take high quality pictures to put up. This aesthetic change can produce a much stronger sense of trust in a service and is something that all founders should think about.
Hope that can be helpful to someone :)