Joe Gebbia

Joe Gebbia

Joe Gebbia and Go Hasegawa, 2015
Born Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Residence San Francisco, California
Alma mater Rhode Island School of Design
Occupation Designer, Entrepreneur
Employer Airbnb Inc
Net worth US $1.9 billion

Joe Gebbia is a designer, and is co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Airbnb. In 2009, Gebbia was listed in BusinessWeek’s Top 20 Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs.[1] In 2010, he was named in Inc. Magazine’s Thirty under Thirty, and 2013, he was named in Fortune Magazine’s Forty-under-Forty.[2]

Early life

Joe Gebbia was born in Atlanta, Georgia.[3] He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and Industrial Design.[4] It was at RISD that he met Brian Chesky, who would later become his roommate and co-founder of Airbnb. While studying in the Northeast, Gebbia complemented his creative pursuits and studies at RISD with business coursework at Brown University and MIT.[5]

Career

After graduating from RISD, Gebbia got a job at Chronicle Books in San Francisco,[6] while Chesky moved to Los Angeles. Gebbia convinced Chesky to move to San Francisco in 2007 to start a business together. When they both quit their jobs, their landlord raised their rent and so they were in need of money.[7] Knowing the Industrial Design Society of America conference was coming to San Francisco and many hotels were booked.[8] Gebbia believed they could rent out airbeds in their apartment to conference goers. They marketed this idea by creating a website called "AirBed & Breakfast."[7] This was the foundation of Airbnb. Another of Gebbia's roommates, Harvard graduate and technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk, became the third co-founder on February 2008.[9]

After unsuccessfully trying to get the funding for the new company, the team designed cereal boxes, “Obama O’s” and “Cap’n McCains,” based on the 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain and sold them at the conventions. [10] When Gebbia shared their work with Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, he was impressed with the tenacity involved in the endeavor, admitting to the program them as a result. He gave them their first round of seed funding in 2009.[11]

Philanthropy

He serves on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).[12] In 2014, he donated US$300,000 to RISD to establish a US$50,000 term scholarship and an endowed fund.[13]

Personal life

He resides in San Francisco, California.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2009: AirBnB - BusinessWeek". Businessweek.com. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  2. ↑ "Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk, Founders of AirBnB". Inc.com. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  3. ↑ Forbes Corporate Communications (2 March 2015). "Forbes' 29th Annual World's Billionaires Issue". Forbes.
  4. ↑ "Founders - Airbnb". airbnb.co.uk.
  5. ↑ "RISD". www.risd.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  6. ↑ "Joe Gebbia". Fast Company. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  7. 1 2 "Starred: The Email That Launched Airbnb". Fast Company. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  8. ↑ "AirBed & Breakfast for Connecting '07". Core77. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  9. ↑ "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2009: AirBnB - BusinessWeek". Businessweek.com. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  10. ↑ "19_Airbnb". Fast Company. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  11. ↑ Fairweather, Alistair. "Brian Chesky: The homeless entrepreneur". The M&G Online. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  12. ↑ "Board of Trustees - Leadership - About - RISD". risd.edu.
  13. 1 2 "Airbnb Cofounder Supports RISD Scholarships - News - About - RISD". risd.edu.
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