While running 'The Point', we launched Groupon as a side project, which allowed me to shift my focus without admitting that 'The Point' was failing.

The idea for Groupon emerged from recognizing that group buying was a viable business model, especially since people were already attempting group purchasing campaigns through 'The Point'.

After a couple of weeks, it became clear that we were onto something significant with Groupon, and we began making projections about its potential growth.

When we launched Groupon, we started with a two-for-one pizza deal at a local bar called Motel Bar, which was a simple way to test the market's interest.

I came up with the idea for 'The Point' while I was a grad student at the University of Chicago, aiming to create a social platform for collective action that required a tipping point of participation.

After our initial launch, we didn't see immediate success and even explored creating a roommate matching website before pivoting back to Airbnb.

I found it difficult to deal with clones of Groupon, as it felt demoralizing to see others copy our concept without the same passion for building a startup.

In the early days, we launched multiple times to gain press attention, even if it meant rebranding and changing our approach frequently.

After struggling for a year to get the Airbnb marketplace going, we decided to apply to Y Combinator in the fall of 2008 as a last-ditch effort.