Before Airbnb was worth billions, its founders were selling $40 boxes of novelty cereal

Most startup success stories begin with venture capital or a breakthrough product. Airbnb almost ended with mounting credit card debt. Long before it became one of the world’s biggest travel platforms, the company was struggling to stay alive, with almost no users, no investor interest, and founders who were running out of money. Their most successful product in 2008 wasn’t home rentals at all — it was a pair of novelty cereal boxes themed around the U.S. presidential election.

As first reported by Yahoo Finance, Airbnb founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk created two limited-edition breakfast cereals, Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain’s, each sold for $40 during the 2008 election season. Only 500 boxes of each were produced, complete with actual cereal inside. The quirky campaign generated roughly $30,000, giving the struggling startup enough cash to continue operating while it searched for investors.

The cereal idea wasn’t part of Airbnb’s original business model. It emerged because the founders had exhausted most other options. Their short-term rental platform, then known as AirBed & Breakfast, had generated very little revenue, and fundraising meetings had largely ended in rejection. According to Airbnb’s official company timeline, the roughly $30,000 raised from the cereal boxes provided the financial runway that helped the founders survive until they were accepted into the startup accelerator Y Combinator in early 2009.

In The Airbnb Story, later excerpted by WIRED, author Leigh Gallagher recounts how the founders brought one of the cereal boxes to their Y Combinator interview. Investor Paul Graham, initially unconvinced by Airbnb’s business idea, reportedly changed his view after hearing how the founders had financed themselves by selling novelty cereal. Graham famously described them as “cockroaches” that simply refused to die — a compliment in startup circles reflecting extraordinary resilience. Airbnb was subsequently accepted into Y Combinator, receiving its first major institutional backing.