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Airbnb Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results

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Feb 15, 2022, 16:05 ET

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SAN FRANCISCO , Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB ) has posted a shareholder letter containing its fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results on its Investor Relations website at https://investors.airbnb.com .

Airbnb will host an audio webcast to discuss its results at 2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET today. The link to the webcast will be made available on the Investor Relations website at https://investors.airbnb.com .

Interested parties can register for the call in advance by visiting https://www.incommglobalevents.com/registration/q4inc/9657/airbnb-q4-2021-earnings-call/ . After registering, instructions will be shared on how to join the call.

Following the call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the Airbnb Investor Relations website. A telephonic replay will be also available for three weeks following the call at (866) 813-9403 or (226) 828-7578 using conference ID: 110169.

About Airbnb Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home. It has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions. Every day, Hosts offer unique stays and one-of-a-kind activities that make it possible for guests to experience the world in a more authentic, connected way.

SOURCE Airbnb, Inc.

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AirBnb Pitch Deck: Teardown and Redesign (FREE Download)

The Original Airbnb pitch deck from 2009 has become an increasingly popular reference for entrepreneurs around the world. The company founders, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk used this pitch to raise $600K from Sequoia Capital and Y Ventures. The company has since become a giant in the Travel industry, closing a round in early 2015 on a valuation of over USD $20 Billion.

Originally recovered from a 2011 talk by Blecharczyk on Startup Bootcamp in Boston, we got a glimpse at the exact slides that they used to pitch investors on their original fundraise. The deck was incredibly successful at summarizing the company vision and the huge market opportunity they had before them.

We’ve added all the original slides in this article along with a redesigned version using our Slidebean pitch deck templates , and we’ll be tearing down each one of the slides.

‍ GET EDITABLE VERSION

Airbnb pitch deck outline.

• Market Validation
• Market Size
• Business Model <<< KILLER SLIDE!
• Adoption Strategy
• Competition
• Competitive Advantages
• Users Testimonials

The slide distribution is actually not far from 500 Startups Investor Deck Template , and follow general presentation storytelling guidelines.

Download Airbnb's Pitch Deck

Let's go slide by slide, 1- cover slide.

Cover slides should stick to the very basics: company name and tagline.

Tagline are actually easier said than done, this should be a 5-7 word sentence that summarizes what your company does. ‘Book rooms with local, rather than hotels’ is a perfect explanation of Airbnb’s service, business model and target audience. It’s written in simple words without any startup jargon.

Defining your product this early on the deck is truly fundamental. If the viewer doesn’t have a good idea of what the product does by slide 2, they are less likely to engage with the presentation.

“If you can’t describe what your product does in 7 words, go back to the drawing board".

Cover slide redesigned in Slidebean . We decided to go with a minimalistic look, using Airbnb's new distinctive pink color, with white for high-contrast. Also, we changed the font from a nice (but standard) Helvetica, to Lato, a simple lightweight font that gives a fresh look to the slides.

USE THIS TEMPLATE

2- problem slide.

I've seen a lot of startups struggle with the problem slide, and I believe that Airbnb solved it marvellously. While a common approach to this is showing an image of the pain or the status quo, the guys at Airbnb went with 3 simple lines that perfectly explain their approach.

For the redesigned version, we made sure that each statement fit in a single line, to improve readability and make the slide look cleaner.

Airbnb's product tries to solve a pricing problem with hotels (line 1), a cultural problem for leisure travel (line 2) and finally a technology problem (line 3), that other competitors like CouchSurfing had tried to solve in the past, unsuccessfully.

Finally, notice how a keyword/keyphrase is highlighted in each sentence. If you are just screening through the slides, those are three words you will absolutely not miss.

Problem slides need to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. Make sure they are written in simple words and in a way that allows them to empathize with the problem easily.

3- Solution slide

For the redesigned version, we used Slidebean's integration with TheNounProject to find a set of icons that presented the concept in a more visually appealing and understandable way.

In a similar manner to the Problem slide, the Solution slide should summarize the 3 most important reasons why a customer would buy your product; in other words, your core value propositions.

For your Solution, it's important to talk about the benefits of your product rather than the features . In this Airbnb example, notice how instead of writing something along the lines of 'search thousands of places to stay online', they've summarized it to just 'Save Money while traveling'.

Again, less is more when it comes to pitch decks, and the better you are able to summarize these benefits, the bigger impact you will cause on your investors.

Related Read: Complete Guide to a Pitch Deck Presentation

4- Market Validation

Time to start crunching the numbers. It is only on very rare occasions that a company has absolutely no market comparison.

What you want to do here is provide the closest existing reference to a company in your space, to give investors a real idea of your market opportunity.

Airbnb used a combination of Craigslist and Couchsurfing for their validation. Craigslist had been 'solving' the issue of temporary hosting for a while, and the 17K weekly listings for SF and NY were the best possible proof of a demand for a similar product.

5- Market Size (TAM)

With a similar importance to the Market Validation side, the Market Size slide should confirm to your investors the size of your opportunity, and should provide 3rd party proof of the size of your industry and its expected behavior for the upcoming years.

For the Market Slide, we made sure that the text in the circles was more visible and relevant in the content of the slide.

Airbnb's Market slide makes a strong emphasis the HUGE 2 Billion+ trips that are booked worldwide on a yearly basis. More importantly, they verify this data with a credible source such as the Travel Industry Association.

Related: What is TAM total available market?

Product slides should summarize the core functionality of the product in as few words/images as possible. The Search by City > Review Listings > Book it! helps guide the user in what the interface does, and implies that the process consists of 3 simple steps.

Another great way to approach this slide is with a short 30 second video. A video is truly worth a thousand images, and as long as your technical setup allows it, that's definitely the way you should go. Make sure to keep the images version around in case Internet fails.

For the product slide in our redesigned version, we decided to dedicate one slide to each one of the relevant product images. The original presentation didn't really allow you to appreciate the product, and we believe this approach causes a much better impact on the viewer.

7- Business Model (<<< KILLER SLIDE!!)

"We take a 10% commision on each transaction" explains the company's business model in a single line, it's perfect! Your business model may be more complex than that, but always make sure that you can summarize it in a line.

Not a lot of changes in the Slidebean redesigned version. We removed the circles to keep some uniformity across the content, and gave more importance to the 10% commision statement.

Airbnb's approach for this slide in their pitch deck was to run a simple projection:  assuming that they were able to conquer 15% of the market (and we know those market numbers are accurate because they were reviewed in the previous slide).

With an average transaction fee of $25 the company could easily project $200M in revenue between 2008 and 2011, which is bound to get anyone excited.

We believe this is the killer slide in Airbnb's pitch deck: it confirms their simple business model, the HUGE potential the company has in an existent market, and it defines the vision of the founders on where they expect this product to be in 3 years time.

8- Adoption Strategy

This slide is often called the go-to-market strategy, and should summarize 2-3 core customer acquisition HACKS that you will use to grow the business. By hacks I mean that these methods need to be better, more scalable and more profitable than your competition.

In case of Airbnb, one of their key growth channels was a hack on Craigslist they called the 'dual posting feature'. Basically, they developed a simple program that would automatically post any Airbnb listing on Craigslist, which at that point was one of the few options available to sublet apartments for tourists.

For the redesign version, we removed the logos which we felt were distracting to the point of the slide (and also a bit outdated).

9- Competition

This 2-axis diagram is a perfect way to establish against your competition. By defining Offline vs Online on the horizontal axis, and Affordable vs Expensive on the vertical axis, it's easy to visually convey your point.

Market leaders like CouchSurfing and Craigslist are definitely affordable, but require a lot of offline coordination, far from one-click booking. On the other hand, Orbitz and Hotels(dot)com are online, but significantly more expensive.

Make sure that you define the two core differentiators for your product, and setup the chart so it always shows up on the top right corner.  Steve Jobs' iPhone introduction is probably the best example you can find of a similar chart.

10- Competitive Advantages

What you want to do on this slide is answer questions before they come up. Make sure that you point out the core benefits (remember benefits, not feature) that will allow you to outrun your competitors.

Airbnb had significant advantages to make them a (more than) interesting opportunity: first to market, extremely easy to use in comparison to the alternatives in 2009, and more importantly, the host incentive variable that had a direct benefit for the hosts, which literally no other tool could provide.

The layout of the original slide was great, we simply decided to add some icons to make it more visual.

We've seen a lot of companies struggle with the team slides, from the amount of information to add about each team member, to the number of team members to actually list on the slide.

As a general rule, my recommendation would be to stick to the founding team for this slide. The hustler/hacker/hipster trio is the ideal combination here. Also, avoid adding advisors to the team slide, they are usually not relevant enough to make the cut for your pitch deck.

Finally, notice how the team at Airbnb focused particularly on listing each founder's entrepreneurial achievements, rather than their academic titles. In the end, experience matters A LOT more.  

‍ USE THIS TEMPLATE

12- press slide.

These slides are here to provide validation a credibility, as long as you have a credible source to quote. Your Press slide proves that your concept is interesting enough to be featured in __________, and that your team was clever enough to get you featured.

As for the user testimonials, make sure to pick reviews that talk about the core benefits of your product, as a confirmation that your customers are understanding the underlying value.

13- Users Testimonials

For the press and the testimonials slides, we decided to cut down the number of quotes to 3, to allow larger, and more readable text.

14- Financial Slide

Finally, your financial slide or 'the ask' should have the details of your round or fundraising efforts. Be very careful about the information that you disclose here, general solicitation legislation  prohibits the disclosure of some information, that might jeopardize your company and even your investors in the future.

As a general rule, stay on the safe side. Keep a public version of your deck with no financials, that you can share around to get intros and meetings. Once you have an established link with your investor, disclose the details of your company financials and projections .

Improve your Startup Financials

We hope you find this article useful and that you can learn something from the success of Airbnb's pitch deck. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I think it's safe to say that having an amazing business was the single most important reason for their success to date, but ensuring that the business vision is portrayed correctly, especially in the early stages, is fundamental to get your investors excited.

If you're interested in using this deck as a template, we recommend giving Slidebean a try .

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• Pitch Decks

To most experts, the “Airbnb pitch deck” is the crown jewel of startup presentations. It has everything investors look for and thousands of startups look to this deck as an example to emulate. If you’re seeking investors for your startup, Airbnb’s pitch deck can provide invaluable insights on how to excite and convince investors.

Pitch decks are essential for businesses in the fundraising process, especially when introducing investors to your brand and products. They play a pivotal role in telling your brand story and building excitement. While having a remarkable business idea is crucial, articulating its potential to investors can make or break your fundraising efforts.

Airbnb’s founders didn’t enter the market with fundraising experience. Still, in 2009, they crafted an extraordinary pitch deck that helped them raise an impressive $600,000 during their seed round.

In this article, we’ll meticulously analyze every aspect of the Airbnb pitch deck and uncover the secrets behind its powerful impact. By learning from this outstanding example, you can optimize your own pitch deck and maximize investor engagements for your startup.

About the Airbnb Pitch Deck

Before evaluating Airbnb’s pitch deck slides, let’s put the company’s situation into perspective. Airbnb is now a massive business, with millions of hosts and renters worldwide. However, the company didn’t begin with immediate success. Instead, the company’s humble beginnings started with an unexpected minimum viable product (MVP).

The company officially hit the market in 2008 but launched three times before attracting property owners and travelers across the nation.

The first launch was its minimum viable product. Before building an app, the team tested the market by offering airbeds for rent in the founder’s apartment. To validate its hypotheses, the team targeted travelers flying into California for a local conference. The team put the offer online, and three conference attendees immediately accepted.

Through this experiment, the company validated the customer problem. For travelers, hotels are expensive and don’t provide unique experiences.

After proving the concept, the founders created the initial website. The second version of the technology-enabled travelers to book a room in a renter’s home. After this launch, the team hit the fundraising trail, intending to raise $150,000 at a $1.5 million valuation.

CEO Brian Chesky said:

“We were introduced to 15 angel investors. 7 investors never responded, 8 replied – of those, 4 said no ‘it didn’t fit within their thesis,’ 1 said they didn’t like the market, and 3 just passed.”

Airbnb launched a third time at South by Southwest (SXSW), a festival that draws over 100,000 attendees each year. This final launch established the foundation for what would eventually become a unicorn startup .

By the time Airbnb reached the seed round, it already had traction, a website, and a proven business model. As a result of Airbnb’s pitch deck and positioning, the team raised $600K from Sequoia Capital.

Slide 1: Title

The vast majority of pitch decks start with a title slide that includes the brand name, logo, and slogan. Airbnb used a minimal design in its title slide, using its brand colors and grey text over a white background. Unlike many brands, Airbnb’s team chose not to include many design elements, like a background or images.

By leveraging this minimal theme, Airbnb’s logo stands out against the backdrop. The reader’s focus immediately goes to the most important elements, including the brand name and slogan.

The brand name alone brings intrigue and sparks curiosity. Separately, we know what air beds are and we are familiar with the Bed & Breakfast concept. But no one at the time could describe the relationship between the two. Readers would have to hold on to their seats and wait for the presentation if they wanted to gain clarity.

The appeal of the slide is that it leaves the reader curious. In 2008, booking with locals instead of hotels was an unfamiliar concept. Yet, the idea of merging the short-term housing industry with the sharing economy was intriguing.

When the team pitched this slide, audience members wanted to hear more about it. Even those who didn’t want to invest wanted to satisfy their curiosity. With only a logo and seven words, Airbnb successfully captured investors’ attention.

Slide 2: Problem

The Airbnb team decided to present its Problem Slide immediately in its pitch deck. Likewise, you should also consider placing this slide as one of the first in your startup presentation.

Successful businesses are those that solve massive problems for a vast number of customers. Investors are fully aware that if the problem isn’t large enough, then the solution doesn’t matter.

The Airbnb pitch deck makes the reader or audience aware of three massive problems among travelers. First, they mention that online bookings are too expensive for travelers booking online. Furthermore, hotels lack unique experiences and travelers don’t have a way to book rooms with locals rather than hotels.

The founders didn’t waste multiple slides explaining the problem. All they needed was three bullet points to expose the market’s challenges. In 2008, prior to Airbnb’s launch, any occasional traveler could relate to these challenges. Even today, hotel prices peak when there is an event drawing thousands of travelers to a particular city.

Airbnb proved that even a few bullet points can have a massive impact. They didn’t write in full sentences but presented each problem as a short sentence fragment. The audience can scan the slide for a few seconds and understand exactly what problem the startup is hoping to solve.

When creating your Problem Slide, focus on connecting the audience to the problem in a way they can quickly relate to. The audience should understand the market challenges even if they don’t experience them firsthand.

Slide 3: Solution

The Airbnb founders immediately followed the Problem Slide with the Solution . Following the same theme throughout the deck, this slide does not leverage extensive design. By minimizing design features, each element on the slide becomes more profound. The slide uses bold and capital letters to make the most important text stand out.

Notice that this slide refrains from explaining the features of the Airbnb solution. Instead, they focused on showcasing the benefits of the platform. Ultimately, customers don’t care about your product or what features it provides. They only care about how it can benefit them, improve their situation, or better their lives.

The slide emphasizes the following words: a web platform, save money, make money, and share culture. Without reading it word-for-word, the audience quickly grasps that it is a web platform that provides three significant benefits.

Your pitch deck may or may not adopt Airbnb’s minimal design approach. However, you should also focus on the benefits of the solution as opposed to its features . Instead of explaining every feature offered, detail how your solution directly solves the issues from the Problem Slide .

Slide 4: Market Validation

Airbnb had some traction, but the founders only served three customers during its MVP launch. While that may seem impressive to some, it isn’t a strong enough metric to sway investors.

The founders refrained from showing Airbnb’s minimal traction. Instead, they showcased the market size by detailing the number of temporary housing listings on sites like CouchSurfing and Craigslist. This approach was risky but worth it. By showing statistics from other platforms, the pitch deck validates that real consumers are in the market seeking a suitable solution.

In this slide, Airbnb’s founders focused on simplicity and proof. There are no complex graphs, no distracting images, and very limited text. In this slide, the focus is on the elements that stand out the most, the market validation numbers.

Slide 5: Market Size

The Market Size slide utilizes a framework called the TAM, SAM, and SOM target market analysis . Many startups use this framework and investors are quite familiar with it. This analysis enables startups to showcase the total size of their markets compared to the percentage they can likely attract.

For the Total Available Market , the Airbnb pitch deck detailed the number of trips booked worldwide. Any traveler could potentially be a future Airbnb customer.

However, the company doesn’t attract every type of traveler with its solution. Instead, Airbnb focuses on individuals seeking to travel on a budget and those actively booking trips online. When the team created its pitch deck, 560 million individuals fit this description.

Finally, the team expressed the market share they believed the company could acquire – 84 million customers. The Serviceable Obtainable Market looks at competition and the startup’s ability to secure a meaningful position. Then, it analyzes what portion of the SAM the startup could potentially capture.

Slide 6: Product

Airbnb’s Product Slide successfully fulfills two objectives. First, it showcases the company’s web platform with three images, making investors fully aware of its features. It also proves how simple it is for users to book a property – search by city, review listings, and book it.

The team could have decided to explain its payment system and the intricate details of its browse/search engine. However, these additions would have muddied the slide and made the process seem complex. Instead, Airbnb wanted to showcase the simplicity of its platform – and the Product Slide achieves this goal.

Slide 7: Business Model

Investors want to know about market sizes and problems. But always remember that they are investors, not activists. Their primary goal is to make money, not save the world.

There is one question every investor will ask –  how do you earn revenue ? Investors want to earn a return on their investment, which is impossible if the business cannot turn a profit.

The Airbnb pitch deck defines its revenue model with a short statement, “We take a 10% commission on each transaction.” Furthermore, it showcases a single business model and defines the company’s expected revenue by its third year.

Don’t expect investors to do complex calculations to estimate the financial potential of your startup. Follow Airbnb’s lead and model it in a way that they can immediately understand.

Slide 8: Adoption Strategy

Airbnb’s Market Adoption Slide used imagery to explain its strategy for attracting new customers. The three channels include events, partnerships, and a Craigslist dual posting feature.

Customer acquisition is critical to a startup’s success. This slide shouldn’t just provide a long list of marketing strategies. Instead, consider how you will introduce your product to customers who have never heard of your company. Furthermore, consider your budget and how you can leverage it to attract early adopters.

Slide 9: Competition

The Competition Slide explains the startup’s market position as it relates to competitors offering a similar solution. Most startups add a Competitor Feature Table to this slide. In the table, they list each competitor and use checkmarks to compare each brand’s features, offerings, and qualities.

However, Airbnb designed its Competition slide differently. It used a matrix with Offline vs. Online Transactions on the X-axis and Affordable vs. Expensive on the Y-axis. This approach positions Airbnb as an affordable online provider and separates its offering from competitors placed in other rows and columns.

Slide 10: Competitive Advantage

In the previous slide, Airbnb showcased its closest competitors and mapped out its position in the competitive landscape. In the Competitive Advantages Slide , the deck showcases how Airbnb outperforms similar existing solutions.

The slide uses six frames to emphasize Airbnb’s advantages. Despite having more text than previous slides, the clean design makes it simple to understand.

Slide 11: Team

There is nothing especially unique about Airbnb’s team slide , but it includes all the information an investor requires. The slide provides a short bio of each founder, comprising an image, their positions, and a detailed but short description.

Furthermore, the slide mentions the company’s advisors. Investors look for solid teams with the experiences needed to build and scale a successful startup. Investors feel more comfortable when teams have advisors to provide advice in areas where founders lack experience.

Slide 12: Press

By adding a Press Slide , Airbnb added credibility to its pitch deck and business concept. Since media sources seek out interesting stories, a new concept like Airbnb received massive coverage. In exchange for providing journalists with a great story, the media provided Airbnb with significant brand awareness across its markets.

In this slide, the founders showcased logos from different sources and added relevant quotes from the articles.

Slide 13: User Testimonials

User testimonials serve as a form of validation, giving investors confidence that the solution fulfills customers’ needs. Furthermore, they validate the company’s claims by providing evidence that the product meets its claims.

The Airbnb pitch deck uses personalization to make its user testimonials more impactful. They added real pictures, not headshots, so the audience knows it’s a real person. In addition to photos, they included a bubble with the user’s actual feedback.

Slide 14: Financials

In many pitch decks, startups showcase a separate Financials Slide and Capital Ask Slide . The pitch deck for Airbnb combines these slides. It showcases the investment opportunity on the left and financial projections on the right.

Too often, startups load the financials slide with complex graphs and tables. Yet, Airbnb’s design enabled the team to show how much they were raising and provide a 12-month projection. The Airbnb pitch deck makes it clear that less explanation can be more impactful than too much information.

Learn THIS About the Airbnb Pitch Deck

Startups seeking to approach investors to raise funds should study the Airbnb pitch deck template closely. The pitch deck was effective because it told a story using very few words. It utilized visuals and minimal design to hone in on the most important information. If you follow the pitch deck structures of successful startups like Airbnb, you may be able to replicate their success, too!

For more pitch deck examples, take a look at the following video. In this video, we evaluate slides from several of the world’s best pitch decks .

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Here's Airbnb's first-ever pitch deck, which helped it raise over $3 billion from investors

• Airbnb was founded in 2008 as "AirBed&Breakfast" to let travelers rent air mattresses from locals.
• Flash forward: It was the biggest IPO in 2020 in the US, valued just over $100 billion. 
• Below, Insider showcases the pitch deck the founders used to secure their earliest funding.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Airbnb is one of the greatest startup success stories of the last 20 years.

It raised more than $3 billion at a $31 billion valuation , and — after a tumultuous 2020 — became the highest valued IPO of the year in the US when it went public last December. 

But Airbnb's story wasn't always quite so rosy. The company stumbled throughout its first year before it finally took off. And before it became a behemoth, the company's founders went through a Y-combinator, a prestigious startup accelerator in Silicon Valley.

To secure their first round of funding, cofounders Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia put together a pitch deck, which they shared  with an MBA student , back when it wanted to be an air mattress rental company.

Here's what a $110 billion startup looks like when it's just getting started.

This article was originally published in 2011 and updated to reflect current figures.

In 2008, when Airbnb was founded, it was called "AirBed&Breakfast."

Back then, there were things like couch surfing, but there really wasn't an easy way to book a room with a local, which the founders thought could be cheaper than hotels.

The solution was a "share culture," where locals could make money renting space on their floors via air mattresses to strangers.

There were already 630,000 users on competitor site, Couchsurfing.com. So there was some interest in the space.

The team believed the opportunity was big. Paul Graham, Airbnb's first investor through startup accelerator Y Combinator, wrote an email to fellow investor Fred Wilson expressing his optimism for the company: "There's no reason this couldn't be as big as Ebay. And this team is the right one to do it," he wrote in 2009.

Here's what an early version of Airbnb looked like.

Unlike a lot of startups, which aim to amass big audiences first then worry about revenue second, Airbnb always had a plan to make money. It wanted to take 10% of each rental transaction.

To spread the word about Airbnb, the founders planned to throw events, partner with booking services, and use good old Craigslist.

Craigslist was perhaps its biggest competitor — that and Hotels.com, the founders concluded.

The idea for Airbnb now seems like a no-brainer. And it turns out the founders were right about a lot of their competitive advantages. Ease of use, brand and host incentives have all helped the company scale to massive success, and billions in revenue.

Now don't miss:

The first pitch deck Foursquare ever showed investors >>

Axel Springer, Insider Inc.'s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.

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Airbnb Pitch Deck Analysis: Impact of Storytelling & Emotion

Explore how storytelling and emotion were the key elements in Airbnb's pitch deck that made it a successful startup. Discover the breakdown analysis of each slide and learn from their strategy.

November 20, 2023

Are you ready for an in-depth analysis of the Airbnb pitch deck? Three guys, an air-inflated mattress, an ingenious business idea, and a pitch deck that summarized their entire startup concept in a few simple words was the striking combination that gave rise to "AirBedAndBreakfast." Airbnb is a venture that started with Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk renting their apartment to three paying guests. This gave them the idea of starting their own unique business by connecting travelers (looking for rental rooms) to local homeowners (willing to rent their homes) and earning a few dollars in the process. Despite being turned down by five and ignored by two investors, in 2009, with a well-designed yet amazingly concise pitch deck, they were able to secure $600K from Sequoia Capital and Y Ventures.

So, what was so influential about the Airbnb pitch deck that makes it a highly preferred pitch deck in today's business world? Let's have a slide breakdown analysis of the Airbnb pitch deck that finely illustrates the idea, conveys the company's perception, and clarifies how the concept holds power for creating a considerable impact. And if you want to check the typical Pitch Deck Outline & Structure, you can compare it with the Airbnb pitch deck by following this link.

Cover Slide

Your cover slide is the first impression your investors will have of your presentation. In the Airbnb pitch deck, the company name, a simple yet striking tagline, and the motive behind the business venture are fused together in one precise sentence. It's clear that they put a lot of thought into crafting a phrase that would be engaging to readers. The design and font of the Airbnb slide deck are modest yet easily legible, and help define the purpose and target audience with ease.

Problem Slide

The guys identified the most common problems tourists face while traveling, including:

• High prices for hotel rooms
• Difficulty finding a hotel that connects them to the local culture
• Lack of support for booking a room online with a local host in any app

These three simple lines illustrate three significant problems in the travel industry in a clear-cut way, which was likely uncovered through market research conducted by Airbnb or a market research agency . With a single swipe, investors can grasp the whole concept and specification of the market Airbnb is targeting. Additionally, this slide creates a connection with the next slide that investors will be viewing, keeping them on edge as to how the service intends to solve these problems.

Solution Slide

Simplicity and straightforwardness were two core elements of each slide in the Airbnb investor presentation, and this one is no exception. Rather than going into a lengthy discussion about why their product or service can make a difference, they use simple language to summarize the core value of their business and stick to relevant information from previous slides. Investors can clearly see and grasp the connection between the problem and the solution, even if they are unfamiliar with the particular niche.

Market Validation

This slide is powerful because it highlights the demand for the product and the opportunity for future expansion. Airbnb uses Craigslist on one side of the comparison, showing an increasing number of people trying to rent their houses. On the other side, CouchSurfing indicates travelers needing affordable rental options. This simple comparison, backed by a few numbers, clearly demonstrates the need and profitability of the idea. It's safe to say this was the smartest slide of the deck.

Market Size

Providing a market size analysis with facts and figures gives investors a complete picture of Airbnb's business model. It shows that about 2 billion trips are booked online, which is the targeted market for Airbnb. Investors can see that the product has a massive chance of success once it enters the market.

The product slide gives an overview of how the product has been simply designed to give users worldwide access. The founders clarified the main features of the product using screenshots to give investors a deeper insight into its working model. On a personal note, a demo in the form of a video may also be helpful at this point.

Business Model

Every startup needs a business model to achieve success. However, effectively explaining your business model can be a tough job, as demonstrated by Airbnb's "killer slide" in their pitch deck. This slide clearly states that the company intends to capture the market by charging an average of $25 per transaction, with the aim of generating $200 million in revenue by the end of 2011. In other words, this was an excellent move to capture investors' attention by promising them a high return on investment in a short period of time.

Adoption Strategy – Go-to-Market Slide

In this slide, Airbnb presents their plan to grow and expand their business, which could be achieved with the help of effective business consulting services . Reaching $200 million in just three years requires a strong marketing strategy for expansion and growth. The most noteworthy aspect of this slide is Airbnb's dual posting feature on Craigslist. By creating a simple program that upgrades Craigslist by posting spaces from Airbnb's listings, they make those spaces available to a wider market, which attracts more traffic to their site.

Competition

The image in the pitch deck competition slide illustrates how the Airbnb business model is unique and different from its competitors. This two-axis representation clearly shows how their product has an advantage in the competitive market by being both affordable and online, making Airbnb the strongest competitor. It is important to define the unique aspects of your product to help investors see the potential behind your startup. While using a table to compare features and differences can look more professional, the idea of competition is dynamic and subject to change.

Competitive Advantages

In this section, Airbnb highlights the benefits it offers over its competitors. Firstly, it helps hosts find the right tenant, which was a unique idea at the time. Additionally, it has a simple and easy-to-use design that simplifies the process of finding and listing. Defining the product and providing a quick overview also makes an impact on potential investors, which Airbnb successfully achieved.

When introducing its company members, Airbnb's pitch deck focuses on the founding members who were truly dedicated to moving the company forward. As they were the only three minds behind the concept at that time, they kept it short and included only the core team members. Stretching the pitch deck with unnecessary names and introductions will not bring the desired funds. So, keep it short and sweet.

Press & Testimonial

Airbnb demonstrated its worth and credibility to investors by creating a separate slide for its press clippings. This shows that the startup is serious about building a brand and has already begun working on an effective B2B marketing strategy. Testimonials also improve the overall chances of obtaining the funds you are seeking. By using images, names, and locations, Airbnb was able to create an authentic representation of its product.

After presenting every tiny detail about their startup, they requested a precise investment amount, which is a fair way of wrapping things up. This shows how to pitch a clear and concise business model to investors while keeping in mind the desired outcome. The Airbnb deck states that they intend to reach $2M in revenue, and without disclosing much financial information, they asked investors for a target amount to give shape to their idea.

The Power of Storytelling in Pitch Decks: How Airbnb's Pitch Deck Narrative Captured Investors' Attention

Airbnb's pitch deck is a prime example of the power of storytelling in capturing investors' attention. The deck begins with a story of three guys who had an idea that turned into a successful business venture. The story is simple, yet captivating, and sets the tone for the rest of the presentation.

The founders of Airbnb were able to use storytelling to convey their passion for their idea and create an emotional connection with their audience. They shared their experience of starting their business by renting out air mattresses and how that experience led to the creation of Airbnb. They also shared their struggles of being turned down by investors and how they overcame those obstacles to secure funding.

The story not only captured investors' attention but also helped them understand the founders' vision and the potential of their business. By sharing their personal experience, the founders were able to create a relatable and memorable pitch deck.

Another aspect of storytelling that the Airbnb pitch deck demonstrates is the use of visuals. The deck includes images and screenshots that help illustrate the story and make it more engaging. The visuals are not only eye-catching but also help investors understand the product and its features.

The Airbnb pitch deck is a great example of the power of storytelling in pitch decks. By sharing their personal experience and using visuals, the founders were able to create an emotional connection with their audience, capture their attention, and convey their vision effectively.

Key Takeaways

Airbnb's pitch deck is a prime example of the power of storytelling in capturing investors' attention.

The deck includes images and screenshots that help illustrate the story and make it more engaging.

By sharing their personal experience, the founders were able to create a relatable and memorable pitch deck.

The story not only captured investors' attention but also helped them understand the founders' vision and the potential of their business.

The Airbnb pitch deck is a great example of how to pitch a clear and concise business model to investors while keeping in mind the desired outcome.

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Airbnb Pitch Deck

Airbnb is a platform that allows people to list, find, and rent lodging. This company is one of the greatest startup success stories of our time. Even with an attractive business plan and fantastic traction initially, the travel startup still had to pitch their company to potential investors. This 2009 Airbnb pitch deck presentation landed them $600,000 in seed funding.

The Airbnb pitch deck has become a favorite reference for entrepreneurs around the world. This deck exemplifies simplicity at its finest. Each slide is relatively basic, presenting the information quickly and efficiently. To show how Beautiful.ai’s presentation templates can help you with your pitch deck, we gave the Airbnb pitch deck a design refresh.

Breakdown of Airbnb Pitch Deck Slides

A well-designed pitch deck template can seal the deal for the growth of your project or startup. It's important to craft a document worthy of attention to achieve your goals. Like we did for our Airbnb pitch deck redesign, make use of visually compelling graphics like Venn diagrams, a SWOT analysis, images, and more. Using Beautiful.ai, you can add all of these elements with just one click. Here are some slides you could include:

Pro Tips for Creating Successful Pitch Decks

Along with our Airbnb pitch deck refresh, we’ve taken cues from other top startups who’ve raised money from angel investors and VCs with effective pitch decks. Here are tips for customizing your own pitch deck template:

A pitch deck should be clear, compelling, and straightforward. About 10 to 20 slides should be enough to hit all the key points.

The overall layout of your slideshow is important, but each slide template also needs to make an impact. Capitalization, bolding key messages, and adding color will create attention on each individual slide.

Charts, funnels, graphs, and images all add to the way your presentation is received. Visual aids make slides memorable and draw notice from your audience to important components.

Your presentation should support what you’re saying, not distract from it. Keep your design and text simple.

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Airbnb Investor

Airbnb announces first quarter 2021 results.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB) has posted a shareholder letter containing its first quarter 2021 financial results on its Investor Relations website at  https://investors.airbnb.com .

Airbnb will host an audio webcast to discuss its results at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET today. The link to the webcast, as well as an audio replay, will be made available on the Investor Relations website at  https://investors.airbnb.com .

Interested parties can register for the call in advance by visiting  http://www.directeventreg.com/registration/event/3971249 . After registering, instructions will be shared on how to join the call.

Following the call, a replay of the webcast will be available at the same website. A telephonic replay will be also available for three weeks following the call at (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642 using conference ID: 3971249.

About Airbnb Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed over 800 million guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, Hosts offer one-of-a-kind stays and unique Experiences that make it possible for guests to experience the world in a more authentic, connected way.

SOURCE Airbnb, Inc.