Airbnb's 2020 IPO letter from the founders

About this letter

Airbnb's three co-founders, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, wrote this letter for the registration statement filed on 16 November 2020 ahead of the company's listing. It is written mostly in Chesky's voice and addressed to prospective investors. They began drafting it in March 2020, just before the pandemic shut borders and halted travel, so the letter became an account of the company's most defining period since its founding thirteen years earlier.

It retells how Chesky and Gebbia, roommates in San Francisco in 2007, inflated three airbeds to host guests during a design conference when hotels were sold out, and how Blecharczyk, an engineer, then joined them. It describes the summer rebound, as people travelled close to home, and the shift of in-person Experiences online within two weeks. The founders organise their argument around three ideas, connection and belonging, being creatively led, and responsibility, and close by thanking employees, investors, hosts and guests.

What to notice

1. 1

   The founders say the pandemic cut the business by nearly 80% and forced them to put the IPO on hold.