picasso81

Ha! If only it was that easy. What a funny misconception.

You're right, increasing engagement is a goal here. Regarding your feedback, under the Wish List button is the location, map, and 'Book it' link. All three take you to the listing. Keep the feedback coming.

Where are people getting silverlight from? There's no silverlight on the site.

"but rather does a search for everything."

We're fixing this.

So did Kayak and every other travel site.

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/kayak.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/expedia.com/

It's seasonality and it happens every year.

Does anyone realize the size of the NYC crowd was larger than Startup School - which takes places in the heart of Silicon Valley? Last night was standing room only. I left thinking the NYC scene was thirsty for an event such as YCNYC. If you left complaining, I think you showed up with the wrong frame of mind. I met some fantastic people, and really enjoyed presenting. Props to PG and Co. for bringing a community together.

Airbnb allows users to remove their public listings/profiles from search engines. Under profile, go to the Privacy tab: http://cl.ly/452M0b0V1c2w0F1p1Z1i

Random. I swapped out the image on the blog post so there is no confusion.

The complete list, idea submission field, and voting mechanism, can be found here: http://www.airbnb.com/safety#feedback. Look forward to seeing your submissions. -Joe

In the photo it looks like our classmates from Foodoro, Adioso, Wattvision, Echodio, Jobpic, and a dating site.

I can confirm this is the original blog post via Core77.

This app is brilliant! Congrats guys.

We earned PG's recommendation by working really, really hard.

A company's web site is a reflection of their brand (start up or not). This is a poor reflection. Being a food product / brick and mortar entity does not get you off the hook.

Yes, we had about 2 years of research under our belts from using the site :) I just posted a little bit about our process here: http://www.quora.com/Airbnb/Who-designed-the-Airbnb-iPhone-a...

Other platforms are also very interesting to us, and we saw this as a good first step into the mobile space.

I'm also a host (www.airbnb.com/rooms/12157) and know what it's like to manage a listing on the go. The app includes a first round of features that we feel will make hosting easier, including messaging, guest scheduling, and instant push notifications.

I'm sorry you feel that way. The fire is usually out at that point.

People on Airbnb with these concerns charge a refundable security deposit (which the site does allow).

Airbnb didn't invent vacation rentals or sublets. VRBO/Homeaway and Craigslist, the dominant players in the space, have been doing this for years. You bring up good bullet points but if they were real issues, Homeaway probably wouldn't be the $1B company it is today. This is nothing more than hotel lobby groups pushing a bill through their pockets. Occupancy rates are recovering from an all time low (as in lowest in 40 years) and they see cutting off vacation rentals as a strategy for improvement. Mayor Bloomberg even thanks the Hotel lobby groups in his press release http://bit.ly/9iNt3Q. Separately, there seems to be a misconception that Airbnb is hands off with taxes, when in fact hosts who meet the appropriate income standards are issued a 1099 form.

Over time, a city like NY will most likely see a drop in tourism if (a) if the vacation rental industry is removed from the playing field, and (b) hotel prices stay the same (or go back up to 2007 standards). There is a large class of travelers who cannot afford NYC on $300/night rates, and will likely still travel, but choose to spend their money elsewhere.

There is a HN group on Airbnb. www.airbnb.com/groups/hackernews/page/members

Have you seen this? http://www.airbnb.com/groups/coworking

Yes, we are happy to interview talented candidates from abroad.

Yes, we will sponsor an H1B if we make an offer to a candidate.

On site in San Francisco. We feel it's important for our early employees to experience the unique office and culture we've created.

We go to the park every week to play kick ball. Besides the fresh air, it's a great venue to exchange ideas with other people in the company.

You're definitely not too late. All the hotels are still sold out ;)

Yep, with interviews it's about the five P's - prior planning prevents poor performance. In the design world the interview process is heavily centered around your portfolio. So I recommend students show their portfolio to as many people as possible - teachers, advisors, friends, strangers - to (a) get their feedback and (b) learn the best way to talk about their work. Eventually you figure out the best talking points that people connect with.

The application process itself has to be methodical. I don't think in this climate you can shotgun your resume/portfolio out there and see who responds. Hiring managers have too many good people to choose from. The approaches need to be custom to the company/firm you're applying to, and memorable. Otherwise you'll never stand out. We got 1000+ resumes once for a job ad...and we're a small company. So many applications look the same - the unique and different ones caught our attention.

I like your three tips of what you need to communicate about yourself: a) smart, b) gets things done, and c) would love more than anything to work for them.

A valid point, and not something that is the front of a graduating senior's mind.

I think the strength, and angle, is that it doesn't do everything a laptop does. Kind of like the Kindle of netbooks. Kindle does one thing well, and seems to be selling alright. By removing complicated functionality, it's the perfect device for my mom or aunt. Is $700 the price for simplicity? I dunno. All this is based on watching a video and reading through their web site. An accurate critique would come only after demoing the actual product.

I would be nice to have some more context on the company. I like to think this respect to detail is representative of how their service is run, but I don't know what the service is.

congrats guys!