For those just hearing about NFX, it's a pretty fascinating team/story.
James Currier and the NFX team run an accelerator that is basically an expert level boot-camp for teams specifically focused on Networks, Marketplaces (and now, other verticals).
The team was way ahead of the inherent value of 'marketplace' & 'network' focused teams, and I would highly recommend them as a resource to any young to mid-stage team focused on marketplaces/networks/etc. (Note - they are industry agnostic, focus specific). Very founder friendly, and good folks.
Also, I'm happy to answer questions for any founders looking for help developing a marketplace/network.
(Full Disclosure - our team was in the first batch of the program.)
Smart team, who knows the food space well. Agree with Josh that sending all the ingredients is key, as well as finding great unique recipes that can be ordered (I assume) any time.
Recently, we found that in San Francisco, Airbnb is close to matching hotels in terms of occupancy rates (Airbnb occupancy locally last week was 87%). Therefore, we wanted to examine whether this figure represents an anomaly or a trend.
TL;DR: we think its possible mature Airbnb markets will begin to match local hotel occupancy rates sooner rather than later.
Interesting findings, Andrew. I'm not surprised by your results, and only expect to see the number increase. Keep us posted with more analyses like this one--especially around pricing.
Good point -- in response we'd say: 'pricing is hard!'
Its pretty rare that an individual hosts will have enough information to accurately/comfortably price their home.
By studying larger trends across a municipality, we think we can help paint a clearer picture for these hosts, both for short term price surges & also for how they should set the base price their home.
I also expect you could help mobilize spare capacity. I know some hosts who rent out their space one weekend a year and make $500-$600. They just go on a short vacation when the major festival hits town.
They get easy money, guests find space. With more spare capacity, I'd bet the average price would drop and more people would be happy.
Great point -- as we designed this, we thought a lot about how this might impact a marketplace/community (Airbnb) that we love.
In talking to a lot of hosts, as well as hosting ourselves, we've learned that (a) pricing your home is really hard, and (b) there is a LOT of work that goes into being a great host. From cleaning your home to welcoming guests and answering inquiries, (not to mention the cost of food, furniture, linens, etc.), most hosts spend hours every week making sure their guests are safe & happy.
If we can help hosts by making it easier to accurately price their home, we think we can create a bigger incentive for great hosts to continue hosting.
* Edit :: I run operations at Beyond, have hosted for years on Airbnb, and helped design this - appreciate the question
This is awesome. I'm very impressed by the concept and design. Do you guys have any kind of development blog, etc? Would love to read more about the development process, timeline, etc, and my initial googling comes up totally blank.
Would definitely use the pricing tool, and maybe the management service too if I were Airbnb'ing my place.
James Currier and the NFX team run an accelerator that is basically an expert level boot-camp for teams specifically focused on Networks, Marketplaces (and now, other verticals).
The team was way ahead of the inherent value of 'marketplace' & 'network' focused teams, and I would highly recommend them as a resource to any young to mid-stage team focused on marketplaces/networks/etc. (Note - they are industry agnostic, focus specific). Very founder friendly, and good folks.
Also, I'm happy to answer questions for any founders looking for help developing a marketplace/network.
(Full Disclosure - our team was in the first batch of the program.)