An Airbnb co-founder published a post on Medium about the company's early fundraising and shared 5 rejection emails from investors, hoping to encourage founders not to give up easily when they get turned down. P.S. Airbnb is now valued at $25.5 billion.

Here's the full text:

On July 26, 2008, our friend Michael Seibel introduced us to 7 prominent Silicon Valley investors. We were trying to raise $150,000 at a $1.5 million valuation. That means you could have bought 10% of Airbnb for $150,000. Below are 5 of the rejections. The other two never replied.

The investors who turned us down were smart people. We really did look unimpressive back then.

1

Thanks for the introduction, and it was great to meet you. The project sounds interesting, but we'll pass. It's not an area we focus on, but good luck.

2

Sorry for the slow reply. We discussed it internally, and unfortunately, from an investor's perspective, it isn't the right opportunity for us. The potential market doesn't seem as large as we would need.

3

My partner and I talked it over. First, this isn't one of the 5 main target markets we focus on, so it's unlikely we'll invest. And since it isn't an area we currently invest in, our involvement wouldn't give your company the most expert guidance.

My suggestion is to keep us posted on your progress. If you get the chance to raise a Series A, let us know and we'll take another look.

4

Thanks for following up. I was out of town Thursday, so I missed the call. I really like what you're doing. But between Airbnb and the projects I'm currently responsible for, especially companies we've already invested in, I don't have the bandwidth to take on another investment right now. My biggest concerns are:

  • Speeding up progress around the DNC and RNC
  • The technical work
  • Syndicating the investment

5

We decided yesterday not to move forward.
We've been going back and forth on whether travel works as a category.
We think it's a top e-commerce category, but for various reasons we aren't interested in travel-related businesses right now.

The next time you have a great idea that gets rejected, I think you might want to look back at these emails

Translated from: 7 Rejections