On: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth

[graeme]

Something interesting: a lot of people thought Airbnb was terrible, including YC and Fred Wilson.

I was 23 when Airbnb was founded. I had had many happy experiences with Couchsurfing.

For me, and many Couchsurfers, the idea of an upscale, paid couchsurfing was trivially obvious. None of us built it, but I assumed someone would.

I'm not sure what the lesson is.

[twog → graeme]

The lesson learned is to build things you love but others don't yet understand. Thats the key to emerging markets

[graeme → twog]

I guess what I found interesting is that this was something MILLIONS loved and yet it was a very specific demographic so the wider world missed the potential.

Heck, most people, if you pitch them on Airbnb today, will say: "That would never work". Half the people I know outside the tech niche haven't heard of it.

So something can be quite large, well proven, yet seem like a lousy idea if you have a set of blinders on.