Many Investors may have creative ideas for starting their own business. But there is a ghost that

Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!

Question:

Many Investors may have creative ideas for starting their own business. But there is a ghost that always appears in their investment road which is "source of finance". The problem is how to find the optimal source to finance their investment. This is one of the obstacles that face many investors when implementing their investment ideas.

Let us take a look at an example for one of the most success story in the history of investment "Airbnb".

The Airbnb founder story is one of the most inspiring stories of the 21st century. The Airbnb founder story is one of persistence, determination, fear and most of all, hustle. Let us go back to the start. It is late 2007 in San Francisco. Airbnb founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia just moved from New York. Without employment, they were having trouble paying their rent and were looking for a way to earn some extra cash. They noticed that all hotel rooms in the city were booked, as the local Industrial Design conference attracted a lot of visitors. The youngsters saw an opportunity. They bought a few airbeds and quickly put up a site called "Air Bed and Breakfast." The idea was to offer visitors a place to sleep and breakfast in the morning. They charged $80 each a night. The idea succeeded and the first Airbnb guests were born: a 30-year-old Indian man, a 35-year-old woman from Boston and a 45-year-old father of four from Utah sleeping on their floor.

Soon after, Harvard graduate and technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk joined the team as the third co-founder. They faced a major problem: the site only had two users, one of them was Chesky. They initially launched at SXSW, and only received two bookings.

After changing the website, the company launched again in August 2008, not long before the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Over 20,000 people were going to the convention, and all hotels were booked out. The first comment on the launch publication on TechCrunch illustrates what people thought of the idea.

Come to the point of fund raising. To fund their startup, Airbnb began selling election-themed cereals. The Airbnb founders managed to make a whopping $30,000 selling the Obama O's and Cap'n McCains. Airbnb raised its first funding, $20,000 from Y Combinator. They are still making only $200 a week and decide to use the money to travel to New York, their biggest market, to meet their users. They discover that the main problem is that the pictures of most listings are not good. They buy a camera and go door-to-door to take better pictures of the listings. It is January 2009 and the incubator invites the three founders to join its winter session for three months of training. At the same time, Paul Graham at Y Combinator tries to convince venture capitalist Fred Wilson to invest in Airbnb. After visiting their users in New York, the company finally gets some traction. The focus is changed from shared spaces to all types of accommodation. It is March 2009 and Airbnb has 2500 listings and close to 10,000 registered users. As they say, the rest is history. Airbnb history. The most recent statistics show that Airbnb now has over 2 million listings in over 190 countries and 34,000 cities. Airbnb hosts have hosted over 40 million guests. The company is worth an estimated 25.5 billion, based on the latest round of funding of 1.5 billion.

Answer the Following Questions:

1. Explain how Airbnb finance their startup business. From your point of view is there any other source that can Airbnb use for financing their investment?

2. If you have an idea for an investment and you want to find the optimal source to finance your investment idea. Which source will you choose to finance your investment? Explain. Why you choose this source to finance your investment?