The Origin of Airbnb

HSK 5 · 297 characters · Business Stories

San Francisco, 2007: two designers can't make rent and every hotel in town is booked — so they inflate three air mattresses and invent a new way to travel.

在zài2007èr líng líng qī年nián冬季dōng jì，两位liǎng wèi住zhù在zài旧金山jiù jīn shān的de室友shì yǒuIn the winter of 2007, two roommates living in San Francisco他们tā men是shì设计师shè jì shīJoe Gebbia和hé工程师gōng chéng shīBrian CheskyThey were designer Joe Gebbia and engineer Brian Chesky他们tā men发现fā xiàn自己zì jǐ无法wú fǎ负担fù dān高昂gāo áng的de房租fáng zū。They found themselves unable to afford the high rent.

一次yī cì大型dà xíng设计shè jì会议huì yì让ràng城市chéng shì里lǐ的de旅馆lǚ guǎn一yī房fáng难求nán qiú。During a large design conference, hotels in the city were fully booked.他们tā men便biàn突发tū fā奇想qí xiǎng，在zài小小的xiǎo xiǎo de客厅kè tīng里lǐ放fàng了le三sān张zhāng充气chōng qì床垫chuáng diànThey had a sudden idea to place three air mattresses in their small living room.

并bìng提供tí gōng自制zì zhì早餐zǎo cān，向xiàng旅客lǚ kè出租chū zū空间kōng jiān，取名qǔ míngAirBed & Breakfast。They provided homemade breakfast and rented the space to travelers, naming it 'AirBed & Breakfast'.这次zhè cì原型yuán xíng实验shí yàn吸引xī yǐn了le三sān位wèi客人kè rén，也yě让ràng他们tā men意识yì shí到dào:This prototype experiment attracted three guests and made them realize:人们rén men渴望kě wàng的de不bù只zhǐ是shì睡shuì一yī晚wǎn的de地方dì fāng，而ér是shì真诚zhēn chéng的de连结lián jié与yǔ在地zài dì体验tǐ yàn。People crave not just a place to sleep for a night, but genuine connections and local experiences.

为了wèi le实现shí xiàn更gèng完善wán shàn的de平台píng tái，他们tā men邀请yāo qǐng好友hǎo yǒuNathan Blecharczyk一起yī qǐ，开始kāi shǐ编写biān xiě网站wǎng zhàn。To build a more complete platform, they invited their friend Nathan Blecharczyk to join them and began coding the website.创业chuàng yè初期chū qī并bìng不bù顺利shùn lì:他们tā men不断bù duàn重写chóng xiě程序码chéng xù mǎ，投资人tóu zī rén一次yī cì又yòu一次yī cì地de拒绝jù jué他们tā men。The early days of the startup were not smooth: they kept rewriting code, and investors rejected them time and again.

甚至shèn zhì为了wèi le筹集chóu jí种子zhǒng zi资金zī jīn，还hái设计shè jì了le幽默yōu mò的de「Obama O's」谷物gǔ wù包装bāo zhuāng。They even designed humorous 'Obama O's' cereal boxes to raise seed funding.