Q 01/05

Airbnb is short for which original company name?

A) Air Bed and Board

B) Airbed and Breakfast

C) Airborne Bed & Bath

D) Air Bunk and Breakfast

Answer · why

B) Airbed and Breakfast

Airbed and Breakfast: once hosts began listing whole apartments and houses, not just airbeds, the founders shortened the name to Airbnb in 2009.

Q 02/05

In which city did Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia first rent out air mattresses in October 2007?

A) San Francisco

B) New York City

C) Los Angeles

D) Seattle

Answer · why

A) San Francisco

San Francisco: Chesky had just moved in with Gebbia and the pair couldn't afford the rent, so they turned strangers into paying guests.

Q 03/05

Which online marketplace did TechCrunch and Airbnb's 2011 lead investor both liken Airbnb to?

A) Alibaba

B) Amazon

C) eBay

D) Etsy

Answer · why

C) eBay

eBay: the investor who made the comparison, former eBay executive Jeff Jordan, went on to join Airbnb's board.

Q 04/05

Who joined Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia as Airbnb's third co-founder and first chief technology officer?

A) Paul Graham

B) Nathan Blecharczyk

C) Michael Seibel

D) Gary Vaynerchuk

Answer · why

B) Nathan Blecharczyk

Nathan Blecharczyk: in 2019 he gave $1 million to his old high school, Boston Latin Academy.

Q 05/05

What did Airbnb's founders serve their first guests for breakfast?

A) Pop-Tarts

B) Bagels

C) Pancakes

D) Cornflakes

Answer · why

A) Pop-Tarts

Pop-Tarts: soon after, the pair brought in a third co-founder to build the idea into a business.