From cereal boxes to $81.7B...

The Journey

Ever been so broke you'd try anything?

That's where Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia found themselves back in 2008.

Two design school buddies sharing an apartment in San Francisco. 

Rent due. 

Bank accounts empty.

And a crazy idea that nobody seemed to want.

Their concept? 

Let people rent out air mattresses in their living room to strangers who needed a place to crash.

"Air Bed and Breakfast."

Revolutionary? Maybe. 

Investable? It didn’t seem like it....

These two got rejected by EVERYONE. 

We're talking about untold DOZENS of investors who basically told them their idea was never going to work.

One even got up and walked out midway through their pitch.

Another ghosted them after a meeting at a café.

Most just straight up said "no thanks" to their face.

But here's where most wannabe entrepreneurs would've given up. 

Called it a day. Applied for real jobs.

Not these two.

Instead, they went pretty far outside the box:

A presidential election was happening that year: 

Obama vs. McCain. 

And these desperate bastards decided to create limited-edition cereal boxes.

"Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCain's."

They hand-folded 1,000 cereal boxes, filled them with actual cereal, and sold them for $40 a pop.

Let that sink in...

They weren't selling technology. They weren't selling a service.

They were selling BREAKFAST CEREAL with a political twist.

And they made $30,000 doing it.

That money kept the lights on just long enough to be accepted into Y Combinator, the prestigious startup accelerator.

Fast forward to today, and Airbnb is worth north of $80 billion.

That's "billion" with a "B."

The same idea that got laughed out of countless investor meetings?

It now has millions of listings in over 200 countries.

The Next Step

Working on an idea you KNOW can work…but so far the route to greater success have usually been blocked?

Saying “don’t give up” is a bit basic of a response, but there’s a lot of power in it.

Really the invitation from this story is to be resourceful enough to find unconventional solutions when the traditional paths all seem to be blocked.

And more importantly to be fully aware that rejection is NOT a reflection of your idea’s worth…it’s just one opinion in a world full of them. 

If you’re feeling blocked right now, this exercise may help.

(1) Make a list of 10 unconventional ways to fund your idea

(that have NOTHING to do the core revenue-generating or investment-attracting plan your business has)

(2) Find the smallest possible version of your big idea you can launch THIS WEEK. 

Not next month. Not when it's "perfect." 

It might just be the thing that injects the capital your business needs…

And who knows, your Plan B might even become a bigger part of your Plan A.