The companies’ stories are different in many ways but similar in a few crucial ones. Their founders’ original motives were not stated in high-minded terms, like Google’s (“Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”) or Facebook’s (“Make the world more open and connected”). Camp, Kalanick, and their friends wanted to ride around San Francisco in style. Chesky and his cohorts were looking for a way to make some extra cash when a conference came to town.
