The fintech boom was characterized by rapid growth and innovation, but as interest rates rose in 2022, we faced challenges as investment and lending markets froze, impacting our business.

In the early days of Airbnb, we struggled to achieve product-market fit and faced significant challenges in getting people to adopt our service.

I have a stubborn persona and a relentless drive to create a seamless experience, which led us to pivot our strategy during the pandemic. We realized that no hotel could accept Apple Pay at that time, and launching a consumer app was extremely challenging.

The previous wave of tech-enabled services startups struggled due to low gross margins and complex operations, which hindered their scalability.

We got caught in the mindset of being just a platform company, which limited our ability to innovate and adapt to new market demands.

Airbnb operates as a technology company, facing challenges like international regulations, safety, and trust, while also needing to provide a world-class user experience.

We were looking for unique angles in the payments space, such as anti-fraud solutions.

Our rapid growth since launch has been driven by a charmingly relentless push to modernize an industry that I believe is sleepwalking towards a precipice, especially regarding payment solutions like Apple Pay that don't integrate well with outdated systems.

Timing was crucial for Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe; they entered markets where existing products were inadequate, allowing them to create solutions that were ten times better.