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How Brian Chesky Beat a $90 Million Clone With 40 Employees and a Belief

By Brian Chesky · Startup Growth · 1 min read

The Samwer Brothers cloned Airbnb, raised $90M, and hired 400 people in 30 days. Chesky had 40 employees and $7M. He refused to buy them.

Key Points

The Samwer Brothers cloned Airbnb, raised $90M, hired 400 people in 30 days
Everyone said buy them — Chesky refused because he didn't want their culture
Missionaries will outlast mercenaries

We were missionaries and they were mercenaries. In a war, missionaries will outlast and out-endure mercenaries.

The Clone

Chesky: In mid-2011, we were mostly in the United States. These guys called the Samwer Brothers basically copy American websites quickly and try to sell it back to you. If you don't buy, they try to destroy you. It's kind of like putting a gun to your head.

They'd done this to Groupon — Groupon was the fastest-growing company in the world at that point. Then they stopped doing Groupon and cloned us. We had 40 employees. We had raised $7 million. They raised $90 million and in 30 days hired 400 people.

We had 40 employees and $7 million. They raised $90 million and hired 400 people in 30 days.

The Decision Not to Buy

Chesky: The pragmatic decision probably should have said buy them. A travel site not being in Europe is like your phone not having email — it doesn't actually work. A lot of people were telling me you should buy this company.

But we ended up not buying them. I just didn't like the culture. I didn't want to bring in this force of people. I felt like we were missionaries and they were mercenaries. I didn't think they were doing it for the beliefs. I thought they were doing it to make a lot of money very quickly.

I felt like we were missionaries and they were mercenaries. I didn't think they were doing it for the beliefs.

The Best Revenge

Chesky: I believed in a war, missionaries would outlast and out-endure mercenaries. And I also felt the best revenge against an internet clone was just to make them run the company long-term. It's like — you had the baby, now you've got to raise it.

That was a very controversial decision. We didn't buy them. And I think it worked out.

The best revenge against an internet clone is to make them run the company long-term. You had the baby, now you've got to raise it.