🏨 Air-B-or-Not-to-B
'Tis the IPO season. Plus: SPACs vs. traditional IPOs, Alibaba plays offense, breaking into VC and startups, and understanding European tech ecosystem.
Ed-Ventures Newsletter #2
Today’s Menu
Deep Dive: Airbnb’s IPO
Quick Bits: More IPOs + Chinese consumerism 📈
Podcast of the Week: Getting an Early-Stage Startup Job with Anthony Nardini (On Deck)
What Else We're Following: 8 articles about everything from breaking into VC to understanding European VC/startups
Jobs - Internships/Full-Time: 14 full-time jobs and internship postings
Feedback: help me to deliver the right content straight into your inbox
Deep Dive 🤿
"They created a market that didn't really exist before."
In its penultimate step before making its grand debut into the public markets, Airbnb recently released its IPO prospectus, detailing long-awaited information into the bread-and-butter of its core business (short-term rentals) and the overall health of the hospitality industry. Shockingly enough, the results aren't all that bad.
Like a MIM trying to get into a MBB in 2020, it all came down to resilience and luck. The company posted a third-quarter profit 🔥 at the expense of cutting down on marketing and administrative expenses (aka 25% staff reduction 😢). The rental company saw a major comeback in its bookings, where it rebounded to ~70-80% of what they were in pre-COVID times. Thank the upswing in short-distance, small-town and beachside travel over the summer and longer-term stays such as rentals of larger properties.
Whip out the calculator: It netted a profit at $219 million in the third quarter, raking in $1.34 billion in revenue and $8 billion in booking value. That's a sharp U-turn from its $575.6 million net loss and $3.2 billion in gross booking value in Q2. However, uncertainty still reigns going into 2021. From your favorite local diner across the street to the Ritz-Carlton, no business within hospitality was safe from the pandemic. Airbnb was no exception, with its 40% drop in net bookings and 32% drop in revenue YoY. Although the figures are still subpar relative to pre-COVID estimations, investors are managing expectations and will expect the company to find its mojo again.
Going forward: The company's won the hearts of investors by achieving profitability in 2017 and 2018, back in the days when globetrotters and tourists still included ✈️ in their Instagram bio. Whether or not it can and will maintain similar types of growth in the near future is up in the air. Even before the pandemic hit, Airbnb's revenue growth started to stagnate in several major cities in the US and Europe due to regulatory concerns. In the current environment, Airbnb is going to have to appease hosts with sweet offerings to avoid them from abandoning the platform permanently for alternatives like Craigslist, especially when travel starts rebounding again. Major hotel chains and hospitality players aren't letting up without a fight either and are slashing prices to attract customers and fill up rooms. The rental service company is also seeking to continue its expansion plans beyond the western frontier and into emerging markets like China, which are major strategic drivers for its top-line and bottom-line growth.
While Airbnb can't control the outcome of the pandemic, it has two assets that it hopes can help withstand the test of time: its goodwill and trust amongst homeowners.
Quick Bits 🌎
Recap in the West: IPO'ing is the new fad
BuzzFeed finds a match with HuffPost. Duolingo hit bingo on its latest round of funding. Add Robolox, Wish, Robinhood, Bird, Arrival, Affirm, Instacart, Bumble and DoorDash to the list of those getting FOMO from the public markets. Speaking of IPOs, SPAC's is back and gaining momentum from big-time investors. Also, WTF is a SPAC? Airbnb's distant cousin Domio shuts down amid struggles to fundraise and be like Airbnb. Yubo raises $47.5 million and gives Snap and Insta a run for their money. Time is ticking for TikTok. 17-month old virtual events company Hopin hops into the unicorn status club. Pharmapacks comes out of stealth and straight into your medicine cabinet. Spotify bets big again on podcasting with Megaphone.
Recap in the East: COVID-19's got nothing on the Chinese consumer
Alibaba goes ali-crazy in this year's Singles Day spectacular. Multichannel retail company Mango Excellent Media bags $939 million (worth of mangos) from Alibaba. Pinduoduo raises funds to maintain its one-quarter profitability streak. Masa Son, visionary behind the Vision Fund, holds onto $80 billion in cash 'in case'. Jack Ma takes one small step back from his vision of Ant Group's $37 billion IPO and one big step forward for his VC firm's $3 billion fundraising. Baidu to acquire Joyy's livestreaming service for $3.6 billion. Muddy Waters to expose Joyy's livestreaming service for less than $3.6 billion. Light at the end of the tunnel for this objectively delicious, tech-enabled hotpot chain in China. Profitability and on-demand ride-hailing and delivery services aren't mutually exclusive, says Gojek. Sea bets big on e-commerce and gaming and it pays off. Tencent takes lead in raising capital for online edtech firm Udemy, valuing the company at $3.25 billion.
Podcast of the Week 🎧
Every issue, I'll be breaking down an interesting podcast that delivers actionable insights into the world of startups and VCs. Let me know your thoughts!
There's no better way to learn about how to break into startups than to hear it from the entrepreneurs themselves. In this week's podcast, I follow Anthony Nardini of the On Deck Team, who offers his two cents on transitioning into the startup scene and getting that dream job at an early-stage startup. The podcast is hosted and moderated by Village Global partner and co-founder Erik Torenberg, who runs a well-known, well-regarded podcast channel Venture Stories which is worth checking out!
Here are some 🔥 takeaways:
Storytelling
Show, don't tell! Create and practice a two to three minute pitch, explaining your journey from getting your Master's at INSEAD to pursuing your dream role in operations at a startup! When you build your own personal story (brand), make sure to illustrate how your value-added skills and interests complement the role and startup you are pursuing.
Your story isn't your CV. Don't just list and describe your previous experience.
Dimensions of the Job Search
Break down your job search into four dimensions: industry, job function, stage and size, and location
Define and reflect on these dimensions yourself before actively pursuing a job
Networking
Be strategic and build strong relationships with a wide network and cross section of people
Refine your network according to your four dimensions and build a community around these people
CV
Create a blurb or profile at the top that describes your background and what you're looking for in your job search (3-4 sentences)
Similarly, create a template (i.e. for networking emails) that follows the blurb and delivers a similar narrative in your story
Don't focus on creating a polished resume.
Interview Process
Put together a pitch, written or verbal, that solves a problem for the company ("Here's my understanding of your key pain points and here's what I can do to solve them")
Offer deliverables that demonstrate your value-add to the company (i.e. how you can drive revenues or cut costs, provide 2-3 actionable alternatives to address these needs)
Harness your skillset and network to practically land the next interview in the process
What Else We're Following 👀
Pietro Invernizzi's guide to breaking into VC and Cowboy Ventures' tips on thriving in it.
Europe pre-seed and seed-stage VC Seedcamp recently raised £78 million in its first and final close of its 5th fund, Seedcamp V. Check out its fundraising pitch deck!
Venture capitalist Nikhil Basu Trivedi (@nbt) talks consumer hardware and software opportunity that can be ripe for the picking.
A LP's perspective into European VCs shows glimpse of hope for startups (and signs of warning ahead)
Trump's out and Biden's in. So what does that mean for European startups? Or tech in general?
Sequoia's breaking ground (and tradition) and setting up shop in London.
Jobs - Internships/Full-Time 👩🏽💼
We're keeping an eye out for relevant and exciting opportunities for you! If you represent a company and want us to promote an open position, send us an email!
645 Ventures - Investment Team Fellow - Remote
White Star Capital - Associate - Remote (France & Germany)
B Capital Group - Strategy & Operations Associate; Chief of Staff - Singapore, Los Angeles
Lodgify - Finance Intern - Barcelona, Spain
TransferWise - Finance BI Analyst - London
re:ceeve - Business Analyst - Hamburg, Germany
Vanilla Steel - Venture Business Developer - Berlin
Profitero - Open Positions - US/UK
Soundcloud - Music Marketing Analyst - New York
Done. - Growth Intern - Remote (San Francisco)
Picus Capital - Summer Investment Analyst - New York
X - Product Management, Everyday Robot Project (Summer Intern) - Remote
AngelList - Venture Associate - Remote
Feedback
Hey there! My name is Jeffrey Dong, a student at INSEAD. Thanks for reading Ed-Ventures. I’d love to get your feedback - feel free to email me at jeffrey.dong@insead.edu! It will help me to improve the newsletter and deliver the content you want right into your inbox. Thanks!
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