Nathan Blecharchik. hardworking billionaire
He values privacy. In fact, little is known about him. His exact date of birth is hard to find online. Wikipedia states that he was born "c. 1984 ″ The surname indicates Polish roots, but what exactly is worse with this.
CV: Nathan Blecharczyk (1)
Date of Birth: Ok. 1984
Citizenship: American
Family status: married
Luck: 3,3 million dollars
Education: Harvard University
An experience: Microsoft, Airbnb Chief Technology Officer (CTO) since 2008
Interests: work, family
Co-author for some cult, and for others again ingenious in its simplicity websites for the exchange of housing, rooms, apartments and even houses - airbnb. I don't want to be a media star. "Some people want to be famous, but I don't," he says.
He is known to be from the middle class. Father was an engineer. Nathan himself has been interested in computers and programming since childhood. At fourteen, he made his first money from a program he wrote. A few years later, while still a student, thanks to his “firm”, he already had a million dollars in his account.
He finished Boston Academyand then with the money he made writing software, he funded himself studying at Harvard University in the field of informatics. As you can see, he had been making money since his early teens and was financially independent. After college, it's time for something really big.
From spare mattress to Airbnb
This story begins with Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, two college buddies at the Rhode Island School of Design who are having trouble paying rent for their San Francisco apartment. On the occasion of the American Society of Industrial Designers conference, which was held in San Francisco, they came up with an interesting idea - they will rent out beds to the participants in their apartment. Luckily they had spare mattresses.
We made a website, promised homemade breakfasts. There were those who wanted to. Brian and Joe rented air mattresses to three people staying for a few days for $80 a night. Also, Brian and Joe showed them around the city. They liked the idea, but they both needed someone who would give the business momentum and had experience in IT. Here comes Nathan Blecharczyk, a Harvard graduate they've known from years past. He worked, including for Microsoft. He brings his knowledge and talent as a programmer, thanks to which you can create a professional website.
A map showing Airbnb visitors at all times.
The three of them formed a company and created the website Airbedandbreakfast.com with an offer to rent beds with breakfast. When the startup started making $400 a week, the founders approached seven high-profile investors for $150-10 backing. dollars in exchange for XNUMX% of the shares. Five of them refused, and two ... did not answer at all.
Another event that helped start the business was the US presidential election. In 2008, Joe, Brian, and Nathan purchased a large batch of cereal and designed boxes for supporters of both presidential candidates (Barack Obama and John McCain) - "Obama O" for Democratic supporters and "Captain McCain" for party supporters. republican. 800 packs were sold for $40 each.
They earned 32 thousand. dollars and became known in the media. This helped advertise Airbed & Breakfast services. In addition to the media, the project attracted Paul Graham, co-founder of one of the American business incubators Y Combinator. And while he wasn't convinced by the idea of renting a house, he liked the innovative idea of the cereal. They received 20 XNUMX from him. financing.
The startup name was too long, so it was renamed Airbnb. This went on quickly. A year has passed, and the authorities already had fifteen employees. The value of the company has doubled in each successive year. Currently, Airbnb.com has tens of millions of listings and thousands of cities around the world, in 190 countries. All business is valued at $25,5 billion. Airbnb's operations are estimated to generate nearly €190 million in Paris and more than $650 million in New York.
The offer is constantly evolving. Currently, owners of apartments, houses and other places that advertise themselves can use the services of photographers. Before an offer can be posted on the portal, it must be verified by your local Airbnb office. The company took over, among other things, one of its clones in Germany - Accoleo. Actor Ashton Kutcher has also become a face and member of Airbnb's advisory board.
Battle with hoteliers
Like Jason Kalanick's Uber, Airbnb has fierce enemies. In the case of Blecharczyk and his colleagues, the main attack comes from the hotel lobby, as well as from city officials - not only in the US, but also in Europe. Most transactions between homeowners are tax-free. Airbnb landlords do not pay the so-called climate tax, which is an important source of income for many communities.
An igloo is one of the less common types of accommodation to rent on Airbnb.
For example, the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Cola, opposed the service. Brussels is considering regulating this type of service provided by Airbnb. Hotel owners in many countries have felt such a threat that they have begun to demand the closure of Airbnb, or at least force hosts to comply with a series of onerous laws governing the operation of a market dominated by large hotel chains.
But nowhere in the world is the fight as fierce as in Manhattan, where hotel bed prices are higher than the height of skyscrapers. New York hoteliers have been outraged because they believe Airbnb hosts do not meet the same safety standards as them and users are evading 15% hotel tax. An influential New York hoteliers association even said that the owners are simply violating the law that prohibits renting an apartment for less than 30 days without living in it.
The New York hoteliers' campaign had such an effect in 2013 that state attorney general Eric Schneiderman demanded that the agency release data on 15 people. Hosts in the New York area. As stated, he wants to establish whether they have paid the hotel tax. Airbnb declined to provide information, arguing that the rationale for the request was too general. However, the company took the issue of taxation seriously. The following year, she asked Bill de Blasio, New York's new mayor, to allow them to take the tax from Airbnb hosts and pay it collectively to the state treasury, without involving individuals in bureaucratic procedures.
The battles with hoteliers and authorities were not limited to the United States. In Amsterdam, the city was concerned that property owners would force regular tenants to vacate their homes to turn them into rental spaces for Airbnb users. However, over time, they began to change their minds. By renting out vacant rooms, city dwellers earn extra money and spend extra money on regular rent payments, thereby avoiding evictions that are slowly becoming a bane in an aging society.
Corpse in the garden
Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharchik and Brian Chesky
In the Airbnb business, very unpleasant situations happen, which are then covered in the media. In Palaiseau, France, a group of homeowners found the decomposing body of a woman on the property. But what does this have to do with our service? Blecharchik laughed in an interview with the British Guardian. "Guests stumbled upon a corpse, and our clients accidentally hit." Later it turned out that the woman's body was indeed outside the rented garden.
Earlier, back in 2011, Airbnb had more difficult moments when one of the shared apartments was vandalized and robbed. After this accident, XNUMX-hour customer service and insurance guarantees for hosts were introduced.
Of the three founders of Airbnb, Blecharchik is the "quietest" but most important. He has a wife, a doctor and a young daughter, which means that he currently works not a hundred hours a week, but a maximum of 60. From the outside, he is perceived as a typical workaholic, completely absorbed in his activities in the company. . He himself believes that it is normal that he lives by his work, because this is the most important thing - but already next to his family - the business of his life.
