Airbnb is the scrappy 3-year-old startup inventing an entirely new online travel marketplace. It’s seeking to make unconventional couch, bedroom, apartment, home and even entire country rentals as ordinary as booking a stay at a Holiday Inn.
And, it’s doing so rather successfully; Airbnb has grown 800% from January 2010 to December 2011.
Airbnb now has more than 130,000 listings in over 15,000 cities in 184 countries, with renters having booked more than 1.9 million nights via the service to date. It sees more than 3 million unique visitors per month, and 40% month-over-month growth on average. Plus, the Airbnb iPhone app has been downloaded more than 330,000 t imes.
Once just three guys working out of a living room, the company now has 110 employees, working in offices around the globe. It’s even rumored to have raised a $100 million in a financing round valuing it at more than $1 billion.
The no-longer-under-the-radar company is fielding a smattering of inbound interest from job seekers who believe an early position at the company could be as valuable a lottery ticket as an early seat at Google or Facebook.
“Ever wonder what it was like to work at Facebook when it was just fifty people?,” Airbnb teases its job candidates. “Imagine building a website that sparked a movement. That’s the kind of opportunity we’re offering you at Airbnb.”
Mashable spoke with Joe Gebbia, Airbnb’s co-founder and chief product officer, to learn more about the up-and-coming company’s culture and what it’s looking for in new hires.
Culture Comes First
