One of the things Hoffman liked most was not just the idea but also the chutzpah and hustle the founders had demonstrated — skills, Hoffman says, that are especially critical for entrepreneurs who are starting online-marketplace businesses. “Different kinds of businesses require founders with different primary strengths,” he says. “And one of the strengths for marketplace founders is a willingness to think out of the box and be scrappy.” Some of the things the Airbnb founders had already done — doing unscalable things in order to later scale
