1.Context
Every year, major events like tech conferences flood cities with visitors. Hotels fill up or raise prices beyond reach. In 2007, two San Francisco roommates saw this firsthand — and decided to host travelers on air mattresses in their living room. It worked. That weekend, they discovered a signal: people were willing to pay to stay in someone’s home.
2.Problem Definition
There is no flexible, affordable way for travelers to stay in cities during peak times. Hotels are expensive and limited. Existing alternatives (Craigslist, Couchsurfing) lack trust, curation, or safety. Meanwhile, millions of homes have spare rooms or couches — unused.
3. Root Causes
- Lodging is centralized, built for scale not flexibility.
- No infrastructure exists for short-term, peer-to-peer stays.
- Trust gaps prevent strangers from transacting directly.
- Homeowners lack incentive or easy tools to list space.
4. Ecosystem Mapping
- Hotels dominate, but can’t scale elastically.
- Craigslist is a wild west — no trust, no UX.
- Couchsurfing is free, community-driven — but unsustainable.
- No single player is solving for trust + convenience + monetization.
5. Critical Path & Stakeholders
To test and scale a new lodging model, we propose:
- Build a basic platform where anyone can list available space.
- Support photos, descriptions, pricing — self-serve and low-friction.
- Add ratings, reviews, and payment protection to build trust.
Key stakeholders:
- Hosts: individuals with spare space.
- Guests: budget-conscious, adventurous travelers.
- Cities/Regulators: zoning, tax, and safety considerations.
6. Theory of Change
If everyday people can safely and easily rent out their extra space to vetted guests,
then we unlock a global inventory of flexible, local, affordable lodging — and create a new way to travel.
7. Impact & Key Actions
Potential Impact:
- Expand lodging capacity without building infrastructure.
- Empower individuals to earn income from unused assets.
- Create a new market: community-powered hospitality.
Key Actions:
- Test initial listings during high-demand events.
- Collect feedback, iterate on UX, safety, and trust mechanisms.
- Launch city-by-city to ensure density and local validation.
8. Outcomes & Lock-in
Success will look like:
- Users returning repeatedly due to unique experience + savings.
- Hosts building reputations, creating a trust lock-in
- Network effects making it harder to replicate once scaled.
9. Evaluation Plan
We will track:
- Listing growth in target cities
- Booking velocity during high-demand periods
- Guest/host satisfaction and repeat use
- Resolution of safety/trust issues
10. Budget (Seed Stage)
Seeking $500K–$600K to support:
- Core product development (web platform)
- Early user acquisition, photoshoots, event-based pilots
- Community-building and trust-building infrastructure
