Considering joining one of these. UBER PROS: Fast moving, was impressed by team’s expertise and ability to GSD, would learn a ton of best practices, problems are technically challenging, diversified CONS: Drivers seem perpetually unhappy (unclear if I want my career to contribute to underpaid jobs), mixed signals on work culture in media AIRBNB PROS: Positive impact on society (hosts are happy and paid well), nice culture, pays well, some parts of product are very technically challenging CONS: sometimes slow moving, unsure if I would learn as many best practices as uber seems to win tech challenge wise (but I guess that means I get more of the startup experience), unsure what the diversification for product is MY GOAL: Learn a ton, build a lot (move fast), work with nice people, and ideally have a positive impact on society. Don’t mind working overtime when need be but am protective of work life balance on average (that said I love to work as hard as I can when I *am* working and take work seriously/fun) Ultimately both have created opportunity and jobs. Both are top companies. I’m inclined to believe uber moves faster and I’d learn more there but Airbnb is more of a black box to me (don’t know many people there) so could be information bias. Would love to hear more.
What do you mean product diversification? There’s a lot of business diversification here. Airbnb needs to move faster to be competitive / public though I don’t know what basis of comparison you’re making
Thanks for asking and for responding! I meant terms of different product offerings- Airbnb has homestay (incl Airbnb plus as part of this) and experiences, while uber has rideshare, eats, freight, other forms of travel, etc
Do you think Airbnb is starting to act upon what you are referring to when you say “they need to move faster to be competitive”? I’m also curious how that culture manifests- Airbnb must have moved fast to get where it’s at - it started off as a startup and is still only 1200 people?
Do you have offers from both? If not, instead of the theoretical discussion, i suggest to get first and revisit the thinking and decision making. If you end up with one offer or less the choice will be trivial...
I have an offer from one of them and will know soon on the other I guess
Way to go.. keep it up. Once you have both the dilemma will start for now hold that thought..
as for positive society impact, consider their impact on available housing stock in dense urban areas like sf. i think it’ll come out neutral to driver pay in expensive urban areas.
Hmm that’s a fair point - thank you!
I think studies show the impact is negligible
what does your offer set look like,
Don’t kid yourself - AirBNB is not necessarily a net positive for the world. They’re skirting lots of local laws and regulations to keep visitors safe.
Tell me one company worth working for that doesn’t/didn’t do this. Google basically get slapped with billions of dollars worth of fines by the EU. They too skirt laws. But they are a net positive to the users nevertheless. Same with Facebook, Uber, Apple etc.
Their positivity is not necessarily predicated on rule bending though. Just because they both improve our lives and sometimes operate in ethically questionable areas doesn't mean the two cannot be separated.
Airbnb
Airbnb. I don’t understand this argument of “tech not being great”. Not all tech challenges have to do with scale. As a PM, does the scale of the backend infra really matter to you. I’m pretty sure the PM challenges and problems to solve st Airbnb >> Uber. Take the effort in diversifying their income streams as an example.
Sorry, what's a "GSD"?
Get Shit Done
Oh... Kinda like the acronym