Sarah Lacy is currently working on TechCrunch senior editor. She is also an award winning journalist and author of two books, critically acclaimed in "once you're lucky, twice you're good: the rebirth of Silicon Valley and the rise of Web 2.0" (Gotham books, April 2008) and "a brilliant, Crazy, cheeky: how the top 1% of entrepreneurs profit from global chaos ... ? Read More
CouchSurfing International is one of those rare Web companies – like Mozilla or Craigslist – that avoid the normal value of Silicon Valley growth, greed and venture capital. Started in 2004, and less than some commercial iterations, which it inspired, the company turned investment offers, happy to focus on making the right to community surfers three million or so. The user profile contains questions like "what is your personal mission in life?"
This is one of those startups, which uses the word "community" means people who have a strong, real-world connections to each other, not only new industry jargon for "eye."
And its Director Daniel Hoffer a little further talks like a man running a combination of Ashram or online dating service: "We specialize in creating meaningful connections".
But today, CouchSurfing is all corporate on us. Corporate (b) to be specific. Company Announces reaches USD7.6 million round of financing and the transition from a not-for-profit corporation, b. B corporations are a relatively new classification to socially responsible companies operate as commercial companies, but they you regularly audited certifying body, which decides whether they live up to their do-gooding promised at the same time.
Single-bottom approach is in keeping with their investors: Omidyar socially responsible company and more classic VC benchmark capital.
The big question I had for Hoffer: don't you just take the worst of both worlds? Now you have investors to answer, and no matter how warm and fuzzy they are, they are the investors who want big profits. Investors are going to want to see in hell a lot more users growth than three million users in more than six years and may encourage firms to business models that can do this community to balk. Time CouchSurfing still holds itself as a company is trying to do something good, not just provide a service or utility. He can never brushed aside users problems with "we must do what is best for business".
He brushed aside such concerns, saying "I think that the best possible structure is what we have. One problem with nonprofits hard to adapt quickly and easily from the standpoint of business model, because you need permission from the IRS. Now we get that flexibility and we still have to make a statement.
The message, he hoped that comes through loud and clear in his community: "we are the same organization, we have always been; We just change our legal structure. "for example, he insists, CouchSurfing will continue on free space, and that the company will find other ways to make money. To date, are charged only to perform validation checks on the guests and hosts.
Of course will change some things. The company which was duly virtual and nomadic still moves to the appropriate headquarters in San Francisco and actively hiring engineers. Indeed one of the big reasons why they decided to adopt the financing and transfer of the company in the classification easier to recruit engineers looking for stock options.
And you can only hope that some of that money will go towards emergency plans for any similar episodes Meth head Airbnb. Airbnb as a few months ago, CouchSurfing has a stellar reputation million visits without nefarious incidents. However, scales, as the company grows is – as anything in social media – outdoor nature. Matt Cohler Benchmark Capital, which joins the CouchSurfing board said that the people of the same fears about meeting people on online dating and social networking in the day. I replied that these people are not necessarily immediately to sleep on the couch.
Cohler and Hoffer indicate existing systems reputation already in place on the site. In addition part of the outrage surrounding episodes Airbnb was, unlike Craigslist or CouchSurfing people pay for the service, so expected more control. In any case, I believe that this is an issue to which users will ask how CouchSurfing seeks to expand its audience.
Founded in August 2008, in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a community playground for people to list, locate and order the unique spaces in the online world or ...
Read MoreCompany:
COUCHSURFING INTERNATIONAL
CouchSurfing project is a free service, Internet, international hospitality, and is currently the largest hospitality exchange network. The project was officially launched January 1, 2004 year. As. ..
Read MoreFinancial organizations:
BENCHMARK CAPITAL
Benchmark capital is a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investments. Initial investment firms usually sit in the range of $ 3 to $ 5 million and more ...
Read MoreFinancial organizations:
OMIDYAR NETWORK
Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder and his wife, Pam, established Omidyar Network based on the belief that everyone has the opportunity to make a difference. Since 2004, ...
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