Airbnb

It's late 2008. The global financial crisis (code name: Subprime Mortgage). The Airbnb team is desperate.

They have already launched three times. No one's using the service. And Brian Chesky, the CEO of the company is hauling cereal boxes in his kitchen, wondering to himself if Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs ever had to hock lew cereal boxes in their living room.

But in a kind of colluding supernova forces, during that recession, people are desperate to save their homes and started renting them out. At the same time, this great recession is causing a lot of young people, comfortable meeting online, to feel like saving money in cheap rented houses!

And this is how Brian transformed a small collectible breakfast cereal distribution shop, into one of the most important companies in the global travel industry.

Starting from the painful 2008 recession and completing an IPO on December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst "black swan" event in the history of the travel industry.

Brian Chesky and Airbnb are of brilliant examples of where hard times create opportunities and build the foundation of strong companies!

The Cyclyst