Partovi passed on early Airbnb pitch, later invested at higher valuation
Ali Partovi · 20VC: How I Lost a $125M Deal with Yahoo by Being Too Honest, The M&A Meeting with Steve Jobs That Did Not Go Well and How U2's Bono Saved The Day For One Tech Startup with Ali Partovi, CEO @ Neo · Jan 21, 2022 · at 26:12
Ali Partovi, CEO of Neo, describes meeting Brian Chesky in a restaurant early on and failing to follow up on an initial Airbnb investment opportunity.
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“I didn't invest in Airbnb the first time I met Brian. Brian was hustling because Airbnb was, this was pretty early on. I was at lunch with somebody else. I was having lunch with a Wall Street Journal reporter, Rob Guth, and Brian was at the table next to us. And Brian was like, I'm sorry, did I hear you say you're an angel investor? And sort of like jumped into our conversation. Let me tell you about my startup, Airbnb. And I was kind of annoyed, like, dude, I'm trying to talk Somebody else here. This is an important conversation with a journalist, but I was really impressed with him. I thought he was smart. I love the concept, but I didn't follow up, you know, missed out on an early, early stage Airbnb investment. I did correct by mistake. Brian and gang were very generous to let me invest later on at a much, much higher valuation.”
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