Brian Chesky once hot-glued 1,000 cereal boxes and sold them at $40 each to keep Airbnb alive Sam Bourgi Sun, September 20, 2026 at 4:30 AM PDT 5 min read ABNB Taylor Hill/Getty Images Airbnb (Nasdaq:ABNB) is now a global lodging giant with more than 9 million active listings across 220 countries and regions. But in 2008, the company was running out of money and investors weren't interested. Its founders then turned to an unlikely way to keep it alive selling cereal boxes. Chesky and his cofounders created 1,000 election-themed cereal boxes and sold them as collectors' items for $40 apiece. In a 2023 interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, CEO Chesky said the stunt brought in roughly $30,000, giving the struggling startup a badly needed infusion of cash. Must Read Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake. Here's what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028. Here are 4 moves to make before the window closes Chesky and cofounder Joe Gebbia had come up with the idea for Airbnb a year earlier, when they rented out air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment to visitors who couldn't find a hotel room during a design conference. They called it AirBed & Breakfast. Chesky and Gebbia were later joined by third founder Nathan Blecharczyk. An original election-themed idea With the 2008 U.S. presidential election approaching, the founders designed two limited-edition cereal boxes: Obama O's, featuring Democratic candidate (and future president) Barack Obama, and Cap'n McCain's, featuring Republican candidate John McCain. Years later, Chesky told a crowd at the South by Southwest conference that he and his cofounders hot-glued the boxes together by hand after a print shop shipped them 1,000 with their design idea. "It was like origami in my apartment," he said, according to Business Insider . The stunt would soon help convince the company's first outside investor to take a chance on an idea others had rejected. Paul Graham of Y Combinator was impressed by the founders' resourcefulness, and Airbnb was accepted into the accelerator for its Winter 2009 class. Y Combinator invested $20,000 in exchange for 6% of the company. Just a few months later, Sequoia Capital led Airbnb's $600,000 seed round, per Business Insider . Read More: Vanguard reveals what's coming for U.S. stocks and it could be bad news for this group of investors What this can teach aspiring entrepreneurs Before the Y Combinator break, the Airbnb cofounders' predicament looked a lot like the one many entrepreneurs face when trying to get a business off the ground. They funded Airbnb themselves and piled up credit card debt along the way. Story Continues Chesky told CNBC he accumulated about $25,000 in credit card debt, while...
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