Summary and Analysis of The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley are Changing the World

The startup journey for Uber wasn’t quite as challenging as that of Airbnb. Its founders used existing contacts and experience in the investment community to find the capital needed to support their early development. Their challenge would be dealing with growth, regulatory agencies, and battles with existing taxicab services in every city they entered.

Camp and Kalanick were more interested in using the service rather than running it, so they hired Ryan Graves to manage it. With a degree in economics, experience in General Electric’s management training program, along with a business development internship at FourSquare, Graves knew he wanted to join the Internet economy and run an organization by himself.

Garrett Camp became a millionaire by cofounding the website discovery engine StumbleUpon, which eBay purchased for seventy-five million dollars. Wealthy and living in San Francisco, he was using town cars to avoid taxis when he began to dream of a company that could mimic a scene from Casino Royale: a car your phone could see in real time as it headed towards you.

Need to Know: Paul Graham and Greg McAdoo state that mental and emotional toughness, which help you overcome the challenges and negative reactions to anything new, are the most important aspects of any startup. Chesky, Gebbia, and Blecharczyk had it in spades.

Running out of money and collecting extensive debt, Chesky and Gebbia entered the “Trough of Sorrow,” where a new business idea runs out of novelty and needs to start performing. They countered with a breakfast cereal for guests linked to the presidential campaign. There were boxes of Obama O’s, the breakfast of change, and Cap’n McCains, a maverick in every bite. They sent a sample to every media company, and the resulting exposure generated enough sales to recoup their costs and pay off most of their credit cards

Airbnb began as a side project in 2007 as Airbedandbreakfast.com. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, recent graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, had landed day jobs, but found them deeply unsatisfying. Together, they looked for a business idea that would make a difference in the world.

the fastest growing startups in history. In just eight years (2008 to 2016) Uber’s valuation reached $68 billion; Airbnb reached a $30 billion valuation, more than any hotel chain.