Uber and Airbnb: * * * * Enjoy the economic Gemini-

At the end of June last year, Didi Chuxing was listed in the United States, and was subsequently ordered by the government to rectify, and then several departments investigated it.

In less than a month, the company's share price halved. Then the company considered privatization and its share price rose rapidly. The future is uncertain now. The ups and downs are really touching.

Speaking of Didi, you have to say its old rival Uber. At that time, Uber was all-powerful in the world, but it happened that it was planted in China. Even with huge investment ($654.38 billion per year), Didi can't be defeated. In the end, Uber adopted the strategy of "since it can't kill you, it will merge with you", sold Uber's business in China to Didi, gained a lot of equity in the new company, and withdrew from the China market.

At the same time as Uber, there is another company, Airbnb, also known as the economic veteran. This is worse than Uber: Uber is my car to strangers, and Airbnb is my home to strangers.

Coincidentally, the two companies were established at the same time, and the founders also knew each other and called each other brothers. They discussed entrepreneurial ideas and exchanged experiences and lessons at the science and technology conference.

The original intention of the two companies is to solve practical problems. Uber's original purpose was to solve the taxi problem in San Francisco. Garrett camp, one of the founders of Uber, settled in San Francisco after his first successful venture. He found it difficult to take a taxi in the local area. Not only is the number of taxis limited, but drivers are also very overbearing and unreasonable. In a rage, he decided to make an APP to realize the network car, so Uber was born.

Airbnb was originally designed to solve a practical problem-the livelihood of the founder. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, the two founders of the company, are both designers who graduated from the Art College, and their work is not ideal. They share an apartment and can't even afford the rent.

In order to earn money, they decided to take advantage of the opportunity of the academic conference to rent the extra rooms to the participants and earn some rent. The room is actually an air cushion bed for people to spend the night temporarily. Airbnb's original name was Airbed and breakfast, but it was simplified to Airbnb because of the verbosity of venture capitalists.

Both companies were initially established and were not favored by investors. There are two reasons: first, their business model challenges traditional industries, and they will go wherever they go, encountering protests and government sanctions.

Uber challenges the taxi industry, which not only makes many taxi drivers lose their iron rice bowls, but also touches the rules of the transportation department. A video was widely circulated on the Internet. Uber's CEO used uber taxi himself, and he got into an argument with the driver.

In the video, the driver accused him of destroying a traditional industry (luxury car rental industry), saying that he lost $65.438 billion a year because of Uber. Before Uber appeared, he could earn $20 an hour, but now it is less than $3. Uber's CEO retorted indifferently, saying it was the driver's problem, not his own. As a result, the CEO's attitude has greatly damaged Uber's image.

Airbnb threatens the traditional hotel industry and challenges the government's management of the rental market. Among them, new york is the worst. In the early days of Airbnb's establishment, some people took advantage of the loopholes in lease management to rent out hundreds of apartments, and then made a fortune with Airbnb, which not only disrupted the rental market, but also brought many hidden dangers to the local area. Therefore, the state government soon banned short rent, and violators had to pay a huge fine.

Venture capital companies are most afraid of this kind of trouble, so they are reluctant to invest.

The second reason is that * * * enjoys the economic business model to test human nature. Both Uber and Airbnb require users to have great trust in strangers and be willing to share their precious property (cars and houses) with each other. This kind of trust can be established, but it is very fragile. Once one party has bad intentions, the other party will suffer serious losses. This is also intolerable to venture capitalists.

Indeed, neither company can provide real-time monitoring and protection for users. Later, after the company developed, Uber often had problems that customers were violated by drivers or drivers were harassed by customers. On YouTube, there are many videos recording Uber drivers being harassed and abused by abnormal customers. Other drivers met robbers and were shot in the head, and their lives were seriously threatened.

Airbnb is more deadly. Every year, tenants are murdered, raped, robbed or accidentally killed, landlords are stolen and houses are destroyed.

A famous example is that a few years ago, an Australian woman traveled to new york and lived in an Airbnb apartment in Times Square. As a result, she was targeted by the bad guys and raped. She will take Airbnb to court later. Airbnb made several settlements and finally gave her $7 million in compensation, avoiding litigation.

It is said that Airbnb pays compensation as high as $50 million a year and security services as high as hundreds of millions of dollars. The employee in charge of customer safety suffers from mental illness because of frequent similar cases.

Although these two companies face many challenges, they both develop rapidly. In just a few years, it has become a super "unicorn" with a valuation of10 billion US dollars in Silicon Valley. But also all over the world, in hundreds of cities around the world can provide services. Why are they so popular? Simple: users have strong demand.

Compared with traditional taxis, Uber is both convenient and cheap. Sometimes, you can meet interesting drivers and chat with you. The characteristics of Airbnb are more obvious. Every Airbnb residence is unique and has its own style and story. On Airbnb, you can find castles, tree houses, country houses and Arctic igloos. Prices range from tens of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan a night, with a wide range of choices.

Airbnb tenants can go deep into the community and get a real life experience. This is not available in general hotels. It is said that people who have lived in Airbnb will put their houses on the website and become landlords.

In addition, Uber and Airbnb provide opportunities for everyone to make money. Some people can earn a whole month's living expenses with Airbnb, no longer need to work, and realize financial freedom. Some immigrants regard Uber as a full-time job, which can not only make a living, but also get a green card.

Others use Uber and Airbnb to enrich their social life. In Uber, where I have been, I occasionally meet Mercedes-Benz BMW, and most drivers are very distinguished. They drive Uber just to entertain themselves and chat with others. A couple became Airbnb landlords in Greenland, and many tourists from all over the world visited them every year. They eat and live together, communicate with each other, increase their knowledge and are very happy.

Due to the huge market potential of Uber and Airbnb, many people who initially refused to invest regretted it, and they had to take a share in the subsequent financing. Take Airbnb for example. At the end of 20 10, the first round of financing was led by Sequoia Capital, which won 7 million US dollars. Eight months later, the second round of financing increased rapidly, exceeding $ 1 billion, with a valuation of 65.438+0.3 billion, becoming the' unicorn' of Silicon Valley (the word unicorn was not popular at that time).

20 13 in the third round of financing, Airbnb received $200 million with a valuation of 2.9 billion; Half a year later (2065438+April 2004), the fourth round of financing exceeded 500 million, and the valuation exceeded 1000 billion; 20 15 The fifth round of financing reached1600 million, with a valuation of 25 billion; 20 16 the sixth round of financing 10 billion, with a valuation of 30 billion. From June 5438 to February 2020, Airbnb became a listed company with an IPO of $35 billion.

Unlike other startups of their time, Uber and Airbnb have far-reaching social impacts. From these two companies, the word "* * * enjoys the economy" became popular. In China, * * * enjoys bicycles, while abroad, * * * enjoys yachts, * * * enjoys pets, * * enjoys clothes and so on. Since Uber, more and more people began to engage in (freelancing), and the traditional iron rice bowl job began to be broken.

In short, the two companies have caused great controversy, and the comments tend to be polarized. People who say yes highly admire this * * * economic model, and of course they are all beneficiaries. The bad guys hate these two companies, and most of them come from traditional industries that have been hit by these two companies.

The two companies have just existed for 10 years, so it is still too early to draw conclusions. However, the tide of "* * * enjoying the economy" led by them is estimated to keep moving forward and it is difficult to turn back.